Parts of Indian-controlled Kashmir were shut down Wednesday after separatists called a general strike to protest the death of a shopkeeper in police custody.

Businesses and offices were closed as people took to the streets in the main city of Srinagar and other towns, including Sopore, where the 28-year-old man died last week shortly after police picked him up for questioning.

Police have registered the man's death as a murder case and suspended three officers. The man's family and separatist leaders have called for an independent probe.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed in full by both. Muslim separatists have been fighting for Kashmir's independence from Hindu-majority India or a merger with Muslim-majority Pakistan. Thousands have been killed in the insurgency.