ndian police remove a noose from the neck of Kashmiri human rights activist Ashan Untoo,who was depicting a hanging during a protest in Srinagar on February 18,2013. Untoo demanded the return of Afzal Guru’s mortal remains to his family in Kashmir. Guru was executed on February 9, 2013 and buried inside a high security prison in New Delhi over his role in a deadly attack on Indian parliament in New Delhi in 2001. — AFP Photo

SRINAGAR: Most shops and businesses were shut on Wednesday in Indian-administered Kashmir after separatists called for a three-day strike to demand the return of the body of a Kashmiri man secretly executed and buried in the Indian capital.           

The strike began Wednesday and authorities imposed a ban on the assembly of more than four people to prevent protests in the region.

Kashmir was rocked by violent anti-India protests after Mohammed Afzal Guru was hanged in a New Delhi jail on February 9, 2013. He was convicted of involvement in a 2001 attack on India’s Parliament.

Three protesters died in clashes with troops.      Many Kashmiris believe Guru did not get a fair trial and the execution’s secrecy only fuelled the anger in a region where anti-India sentiment runs deep.