Most shops and businesses in the main city of divided Kashmir were closed on yesterday after separatists called a strike to protest against a visit by Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Vajpayee is due to attend a meeting of an inter-state Indian council, being held in Srinagar to underline the region's gradual return to normalcy after India and Pakistan almost went to war over it last year.

Kashmir's main separatist alliance, the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference, and the militant Hizbul Mujahideen were among groups that called for a strike across the Muslim-majority region where more than 38 000 people have died in a revolt that erupted in 1989.

?Let us observe a complete shut down on August 27 to register protest against Indian Prime Minister. The visit is to hoodwink the international community that Kashmir is normal,? separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani said in a statement.

Three wars to two nuclear neighbours

Indian and Pakistani arguments over Kashmir have led to two of the nuclear neighbours three wars since they won independence from Britain in 1947.

Separatist attacks surged last year as India and Pakistan faced off last year over Kashmir. The violence drove tourists away from the picturesque mountain state.

Indian forces have stepped up patrols and sealed off the routes to the conference centre on the banks of the Dal Lake where Vajpayee, his deputy Lal Krishna Advani and several Indian state chief ministers will discuss centre-state relations for two days.

?We have increased area domination patrols, frisking, surprise checks and surprise raids. No untoward incident was reported so far,? T. Acharya, Border Security Force spokesman said.

Geelani is a former chairman of Hurriyat, which brings together more than two dozen separatist groups seeking implementation of a 1948 UN resolution for a plebiscite to decide whether Kashmir should belong to India or Pakistan.

Tension has risen between India and Pakistan since two car bombs exploded in India's financial capital Bombay on Monday killing 51 people. Indian police blame Islamic separatists for the bombings.

The attacks prompted the hardline Advani to revive charges that Islamabad was not doing enough to curb Muslim militants in Kashmir and elsewhere in India.

Pakistan rejected Advani's accusation and said it had nothing to do with the bombings in Bombay.

India and Pakistan have in recent months restored diplomatic and bus links which analysts say will help lay the ground for diplomatic talks over the situation in Kashmir.

Srinagar

Bomb blast in before Vajpayee arrival

Suspected guerrillas set off a bomb in an abandoned house in Indian Kashmir's main city Srinagar yesterday, hours before the arrival of Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, a military spokesman said.

?No one was hurt in the explosion. Window panes of some neighbouring houses were damaged,? the Border Security Force spokesman said. Vajpayee, his deputy Lal Krishna Advani and several chief ministers were due to attend a state council meeting being held in Indian Kashmir to underline what New Delhi sees as its gradual return to normalcy after elections there last year.