Observe shutdown when PM visits Kashmir: Separatist amalgam

Hurriyat hawks today gave a call for a complete shutdown in the valley on October 18 when prime minister Manmohan Singh is likely to pay a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir.

"Observe complete strike on the day when the prime minister will visit Kashmir," Syed Ali Shah Geelani, chairman of the hardline faction of the Hurriyat Conference, said.

Geelani, under house arrest since September 9, also called upon Kashmiris to observe a "black day" on October 27 when, he said, the Indian Army had landed in Kashmir 62 years ago.

The separatist leader, in a statement here, took strong exception to his being labelled as a hardliner.

"We are realistic. The realistic approach may be called extremism but that cannot change the ground realities," he said.