Indian paramilitary troopers stand guard during security lockdown in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir, March 24, 2019. Muslim majority areas of Indian-controlled Kashmir Sunday saw a complete shutdown to protest New Delhi's ban on Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), a separatist organization headed by Mohammed Yasin Malik. The call for the shutdown was given by joint resistance leadership, of which JKLF is a part. (Xinhua/Javed Dar)

SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Muslim majority areas of Indian-controlled Kashmir Sunday saw a complete shutdown to protest New Delhi's ban on Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), a separatist organization headed by Mohammed Yasin Malik.

The call for the shutdown was given by joint resistance leadership, of which JKLF is a part.

All shops and business establishments remained closed in the region while public transport was off the roads. However, at some places local transport was seen plying.

Apart from Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir, the reports of the shutdown were received from major towns and district headquarters.

Authorities placed Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Geelani under house arrest, fearing they would lead protest demonstrations.

India's federal home ministry on Friday banned JKLF headed by Malik after declaring the organization as an "unlawful association" under a government directive.

Malik is currently lodged in Kot Balwal jail of Jammu. The senior separatist leader was arrested last month and later booked under a controversial preventive law, Public Safety Act (PSA).

JKLF is the second organization to be banned by the Indian government. Last month, the government banned a socio-religious organization operating in the region, Jammu and Kashmir Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI).

The government also arrested many of its activists and leaders including its chief Hameed Fayaz and booked them under PSA.

JKLF favors independence of Kashmir and was first to wage an armed insurgency against New Delhi's rule in 1989 in Indian-controlled Kashmir.