SRINAGAR (Agencies) Shops, schools and offices were shut for a second day in Indian-held Kashmir on Monday as politicians met to discuss how to end weeks of violent and deadly street protests against security forces. Indian troops have been struggling to control a wave of demonstrations in the Muslim-majority occupied valley after being accused of killing 15 civilians - many of them teenagers - since the first death of 17-year old on June 11. Authorities lifted a rigid curfew on Sunday across IHK after an uneasy calm returned to the major towns, but all activity ground to a halt after pro-freedom Kashmiri leaders called a strike. In Srinagar, chief minister Omar Abdullah convened a meeting of pro-India local politicians to find a way out of the cycle of protests and disruption. The meeting called for an independent inquiry into the death of civilians and also urged Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to give fillip to 'internal and external dialogue. The meeting urged the Indian government to strengthen the on-going peace process through internal and external dialogue, Abdullah said without elaborating. This is obviously a reference to the dialogue with the moderate Hurriyat Conference and, externally, with Pakistan. However, the regions main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stayed away, urging the chief minister Omar Abdullah to end the crackdown on civilians. PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti boycotted the meeting saying it was an exercise in futility. She had even rejected the Prime Ministers appeal to her to attend the meeting to join hands with the government to tackle the crisis. The parties urged the state government to conduct an inquiry to ascertain the circumstances leading to the death of civilians. Many analysts say the latest protests stem in part from frustration among the youth over the failure of the government to create jobs and root out corruption. Newspapers in Kashmir were again on stands for the first time in four days. Passes for journalists enabling them to travel despite curfew restrictions were cancelled by the authorities.