India-controlled Kashmiri town ends 47-day shutdown

The Shopian town of India-controlled Kashmir Thursday called off a 47-day strike against the rape and murder of two women, after a court appealed for the ending of the shutdown.

Local officials said life in the town, 50 kilometers south of Srinagar, came back on rails after 47-day-long shutdown.

Shops, business establishments and educational institutions were opened up, and movement of traffic resumed on the roads.

"We have decided to call off the strike on the assurances of High Court that guilty will be punished," said Mohammed Shafi Khan, committee spokesman spearheading the agitation.

The High Court in India-controlled Kashmir Wednesday appealed the people of Shopian district to end their strike. The appeal was made by the Chief Justice of the Court, Justice Barin Ghosh, while hearing the case.

'The case is progressing. This is not your case, this is our case. You have suffered a lot, now the suffering should end and Iappeal to you to end this strike and cooperate with special investigations team (SIT)," Justice Ghosh said.

The Court also directed the SIT probing the case to arrest and produce the four suspended police officials in the court and get their blood samples for DNA profiling, and ordered that no court shall grant bail to these four suspended police officials instead should sent such pleas to the high court.

Last week, a judicial commission headed by retired judge Justice Muzaffar Jan submitted its report to the government.

The commission has failed to identify the real culprits but asked the government to probe the case further.

Earlier, it has asked the government to suspend four police officials for not having investigated the case properly and thereby contributing to the destruction, dissipation and suppression of evidence in the case.

On May 30, two women aged 17 and 23 years were found dead under mysterious circumstances in Shopian town. Locals alleged the duo were first raped and then murdered. They suspected the hand of Indian troopers in to the incident.