SRINAGAR, India -- More than 10,000 Muslims turned up for a prayer meeting Friday at the martyr's grave here to mourn assassinated Kashmiri separatist Leader Abdul Gani Lone, AFP reported.

Top leaders of the Hurriyat Conference, an umbrella organization comprising 23 separatist groups, including Abdul Gani Bhat and Ali Shah Geelani, took part in the prayers.

The 70-year-old moderate separatist was killed by unidentified gunmen on Tuesday at a political rally meters (yards) away from martyr's grave. He was buried at the graveyard the next day.

Activists and supporters shouting "We want freedom. Freedom is our right," poured in from Kupwara district, Lone's hometown, in trucks, buses and cars to reach Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital.

They offered rose petals at Lone's grave.

Later the Hurriyat leaders met at Lone's residence in Srinagar to address a condolence meeting.

"Martyrdom is a gift from Allah to pious Muslims," Geelani told mourners. "The armed struggle has been created by India. Kashmiris are not warmongers. We are peace-loving people.

"Peace will only return when the issue is resolved as per the aspirations of the people," he said.

Bhat announced that Bilal Lone would replace his father as an executive member of the conference.

A tight security net was thrown around Srinagar for the meeting.

Army and paramilitary soldiers patrolled the deserted streets as schools, government offices and business establishments remained shut for the third straight day.

The closure was in response to a two-day call given by the Hurriyat to protest against Lone's killing.

Lone was the moderate face of the Hurriyat and favored talks with the Indian government to end the decades-old Kashmir dispute, which has so far claimed at least 35,000 lives in the valley.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Thursday said he was willing to hold talks with Hurriyat leaders.

But Hurriyat Chairman Bhat dismissed the offer and said: "Why indulge in fishing in a desert?" He said talks could not be held without the involvement of Pakistan, which controls part of Kashmir.

"We do not want a dialogue for the sake of it," he said.

India has ruled out talks with Pakistan over the Kashmir dispute.

Currently more than one million soldiers from both India and Pakistan are massed on the borders following an attack by Islamic militants on December 12 on India's Parliament.

Two of the three wars between the two newest nuclear nations have been fought over Kashmir. President George W. Bush (R) and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands after both signed a Nuclear Arms Treaty during a signing ceremony in the Kremlin in Moscow, May 24, 2002.

The coffin of Abdul Ghani Lone, a leader of the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference, Kashmir's main separatist alliance is carried by mourners during his funeral procession in Srinagar, May 22,