Kashmir closed by strike over prices

by The Associated Press

A strike called by trade and business groups silenced Kashmir April 5 to protest tax increases on fuel, medicines and other essentials.

Truckers also called an indefinite strike, threatening to cut the supply network to the Kashmir Valley which depends entirely on road links for its provisions. Schools, government offices and stores were closed. Private buses also were off the roads.

Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state, is accustomed to political strikes sponsored by pro-separatist groups seeking independence from India. Since February, when the state government presented its budget, it has been shut down several times over economic issues.

The budget raised taxes on kerosene, diesel, cooking gas, oil and spare parts for cars, and more. It also hiked the road tax for transporters.

T.S. Wazir, spokesman of the Kashmir Transporters Union, claimed the new taxes would “make our business unviable.”

Government workers joined the traders in supporting the strike called by the newly formed People’s Forum for Justice, an alliance of businesses which issued a statement accusing the government of “economic terrorism.”