Srinagar, Aug 11 - A shutdown called by the Hurriyat Conference and other separatist groups hit life in the Kashmir Valley Tuesday to mark the first death anniversary of a separatist leader killed in police firing.

Sheikh Abdul Aziz, who headed the People's League, a key constituent of the moderate Hurriyat Conference, was killed with three other people while leading a march to Muzaffarabad in Pakistani Kashmir.

The march was called by the Kashmir fruit growers association during the Amarnath land row protests last year.

All shops, businesses and educational institutions remained closed in the summer capital Srinagar. Attendance in government offices was thin.

Public transport went off the roads here though skeletal private transport plied on the streets.

Police detained some separatist leaders and activists during protests here Tuesday morning.

Reports from other towns said the shutdown affected normal life.

Over 50 people were killed and hundreds others were injured in two months of protests last year in Jammu and Kashmir following the allotment of land to the Amarnath shrine.