Educational institutions, shops and business establishments remained closed across the Valley, while all kinds of transport remained off the roads due to the strike.
Ahead of the Parliament session, beginning Monday, the government is apparently aiming to build a consensus to deal with its biggest neighbour as well on Kashmir issue.
The Congress on Wednesday said senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad was consulted several times before finalising the names in the revamped Jammu and Kashmir unit of the party, rejecting reports that the former Union minister was not on board.
Officials said that 100 more companies are expected to be sent to the valley.
Leaders from 26 opposition parties, in power individually or in alliance in Delhi and 10 states, are meeting in Bengaluru to discuss strategy to take on the Narendra Modi-led NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The former chief minister said if there was any danger of his losing from Budgam, then his party colleagues would not have allowed him to contest from Budgam.
The entry to the graveyard inside Naqshband sahib Shrine in Khawaja Bazaar near Nowhatta was sealed and security forces were deployed around the area to prevent anyone going inside, officials said.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi allowed the Peoples Democratic Party chief's daughter Iltija to meet her after she submitted in court that she has no problem in going to their Srinagar home but has not been able to move freely in the city.
In Srinagar, wearing black bands, scores of PDP leaders and activists, led by party president Mehbooba Mufti, took out a protest march from the party's head office near the Sher-e-Kashmir Park.
Nine people including three women were killed and 33 injured as a bus carrying pilgrims from Uttar Pradesh and Delhi plunged into a deep gorge after an ambush by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district on Sunday evening, police said, as political leaders cutting across party lines strongly condemn the dastardly attack.
'Although the tactical move to outflank the BJP fell through with New Delhi's decisive intervention and eventual dissolution of the state assembly, the PDP, NC and the Congress appeared to be more than satisfied.' 'They see the assembly dissolution as their 'great achievement'.' 'If one were to believe what they say, this was also their main objective,' reveals Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the doyen of Kashmiri commentators.
Responding to a question, Abdullah said elections can be held whenever the government wants.
Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah on Friday said that the party is in talks with both the Peoples Democratic Party and National Conference and would like to form the next government in Jammu and Kashmir.
Imran Bashir Ganai was arrested for his alleged involvement in the killing of two labourers at Harmain in Shopian district in the early hours of Tuesday.
The vehicles came under attack in the Savni area on the Rajouri-Thanamandi-Surankote road around 3.30 pm.
Addressing a series of election rallies in support of his party's candidates in Jammu on the last day of campaigning, Azad voiced concerns over the promises made by various political parties regarding the return of Article 370 and said these promises are not grounded in reality.
The Delhi high court on Wednesday gave an interim stay on summons issued by the ED to former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, her daughter said.
The Centre is planning a series of political initiatives in Jammu and Kashmir which may include discussion with mainstream parties of the Union Territory and elections to the assembly in the early part of next year, officials said in New Delhi.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday hit out at its rival parties in Jammu and Kashmir, saying their stand on a number of issues, including the demand for restoration of Article 370, is the same as that of countries like Pakistan, and asked the Congress if it agrees with the "anti-national" views of the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party over its support to them.
The anti-encroachment drive by Jammu and Kashmir administration intensified on Saturday as the land illegally occupied by 'influential persons' was retrieved at many places in the valley, officials said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in all-party meeting on Jammu and Kashmir, on Wednesday said that his government is fully committed to the 'democratic process' in the region and holding the assembly elections is a priority, sources said.
The People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) on Monday said assembly elections should be held only after restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir and asked the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government to honour its commitment made on the floor of Parliament.
All opposition members of the parliamentary panel on the Waqf Amendment Bill were suspended for a day on Friday amid continuous protests and accusations against Chairman Jagdambika Pal of steam-rolling through the proceedings.
A voter turnout of 10.82 per cent was recorded till 9 am on Saturday in 58 constituencies in six states and two Union territories where polling is underway in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
In the wake of notices issued to the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and several others by the State Accountability Commission, Opposition parties on Friday staged a protest and later walked out from the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly demanding a debate over the issue.
On his first visit to Srinagar post the abrogation of Article 370, Home Minister Amit Shah claimed that incidents of terrorism have declined and stone-throwing incidents too have ended in Jammu-Kashmir.
The junior Abdullah would be banking heavily on Shia support as the constituency has many Shia dominated areas that include Budgam, Beerwah, Pattan, Sonawari and Bandipora, among other pockets.
Leader of the opposition and People's Democratic Party, Mehbooba Mufti, has accused the central government and the Jammu and Kashmir government of using the youth of Kashmir as scapegoats to cover up militant attacks.
The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said the Centre's "callous policies" have led to target killings of Kashmiri Pandits.
In a series of tweets, Faisal spoke about his idealism letting him down in 2019 when he resigned from government service to join politics.
The delegation was told that the autonomy resolution passed by the Jammu and Kashmir assembly in 2000 should be implemented.
Mufti, who reached New Delhi on Monday for talks with the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership, has called for a legislature party meeting on March 24.
National Conference president Farooq Abdullah has convened a meeting at his residence on Thursday for chalking out the future course of action on 'Gupkar Declaration' with regard to the special status of Jammu and Kashmir which was revoked by the Centre last year.
The EC said polling percentage in the Anantnag-Rajouri seat in Jammu and Kashmir is the highest in 40 years.
Peoples Democratic Party legislator Nizam-ud-din Bhat, who has been accused of introducing a constitutional amendment bill with glimpses of secessionist ideas, has denied the allegation, and said that Jammu and Kashmir legislators must be free to propose amendments for the benefit of the people of the state.
On the controversial AFSPA, the home minister said, "We will also think of revoking AFSPA."
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said Afzal Guru's hanging was both "wrong and badly handled".
Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP accused National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah of leaving them "no option".
Was the decision taken by the Centre on August 5, 2019 to abrogate the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution, which bestowed a special status on the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, constitutionally valid? The Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce its verdict on Monday on a batch of petitions challenging the abrogation of the provisions of Article 370.
Naidu accused Congress of speaking in different voices on strategic matters and also of being "callous" on sensitive issues.
