SRINAGAR (Agencies) - Freedom fighters staged a general strike in Srinagar on Saturday to protest a visit by India's president to the occupied territory. Businesses closed and schools and colleges declared the day a holiday in line with the strike call by the hardline wing of Hurriyat Conference alliance. The strike to protest the visit by President Pratibha Patil was also backed by the powerful Hizbul Mujahideen group. Traffic was also thin in Srinagar, the urban hub of the Kashmir. Indian soldiers backed by police declared several areas of the city "out of bounds" for civilians to ensure Patil's security during her visit. Patil, India's first woman president elected last year, arrived here on Friday on a four-day official trip to the territory. On Friday she warned that India would retaliate "resolutely and firmly" against any violations of the heavily militarised border. "I'm confident that any violation of our borders will be dealt with resolutely and firmly," Patil said in a speech to soldiers at a camp in Baramulla town, 55 kilometres north of Srinagar. The warning by Patil, who is also supreme commander of India's armed forces, came after forward Indian posts came under fire from across the Line of Control (LoC) three times this month. Earlier this week, India's foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee held talks with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad, with the neighbours expressing optimism about their slow-moving four-year-old peace process.