The protest shutdown, called by the combined separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) against the Supreme Court verdict against Mohammad Afzal Guru, crippled normal life in the entire Kashmir valley on Monday.

The SC had, on August 4, upheld his High Court conviction for involvement in the terror attack on the Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001.

To protest the SC decision, both conglomerates of the separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference, headed by Mirwaiz Omar Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani, and other separatist organizations like the Jammu and Kashmir [Images] Liberation Front, had called for Monday's strike.

Parliament attack: Death for Afzal

Public transport was totally off the roads while educational institutions, business establishments and financial institutions were closed even as skeleton private transport operated in summer capital Srinagar [Images].

A heavy security presence, with intensive patrolling by the security forces, was the administration's response to the shutdown call. Strike was complete in other valley towns, according to official reports here.

Tabassum, the 32 year old wife of Afzal has already decided to mercy petition the President, seeking pardon for her condemned husband.