Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday reviewed the situation in Jammu and Kashmir where violence is continuing over the Amarnath land row.

Singh held discussion with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A K Antony about the situation and possible solution to the issue.

Mukherjee on Friday night held detailed discussions with former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and PCC president Saifuddin Soz on the latest situation in the state.

The Prime Minister, in his Independence Day speech on Friday, voiced concern over the situation on the border state and came out strongly against "divisive politics" on the Amarnath issue.

Singh had asked political parties not to use religion to divide people but come together in finding a permanent solution to problems plaguing Jammu and Kashmir.

Although curfew was lifted from all parts of the Kashmir valley on Friday, normal life in Srinagar and nearby areas remained paralysed on Saturday due to a strike called by separatists to observe the fourth day ceremony of senior Hurriyat Conference leader Sheikh Abdul Aziz who was killed in a firing incident early this week.

Shops and business establishments, government offices, banks and educational institutions remained closed and transport was off the roads in response to a call given by the coordination committee of separatists, officials said.

The coordination committee is an amalgam of both factions of the Hurriyat Conference, the JKLF led by Mohammad Yasin Malik, the Dukhtaran-e-Millat, the Jamiat-e-Ahli Hadees, the traders' federation, the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and the employees’' union.

Protesters marched to Pampore, the native village of Aziz, to participate in his fourth day ceremony. The ceremony was to follow a public meeting to be addressed by separatist leaders.

Aziz was killed in a firing incident at Chalal-Boniyar on August 11 while leading a procession to Muzaffarabad in protest against the "economic blockade" of the valley.

Fearing trouble, the authorities clamped curfew in Srinagar and the 40-km route from Sheeri to Uri on August 11 evening which was extended to all 10 districts of the valley the next day.

A record number of nearly 5.50 lakh pilgrims offered prayers at the holy cave in 2008, the highest so far. Earlier in 2004, over four lakh pilgrims offered prayers at the cave shrine.

A total of 68 persons died, mostly of natural causes, during the pilgrimage in 2008. The deceased included a BSF jawan and a policeman who were part of deployment along the yatra route, a porter and a shopkeeper.