Fourteen killed as Indian Kashmir land row boils
Police shot dead at least 13 people in Indian Kashmir yesterday as Muslim protests against what they termed an economic blockade by Hindus over a land row began to morph into independence calls, officials said. Violence swept up the neighbouring...
Police shot dead at least 13 people in Indian Kashmir yesterday as Muslim protests against what they termed an economic blockade by Hindus over a land row began to morph into independence calls, officials said.
Violence swept up the neighbouring Hindu-dominated Jammu region as well, where one person was killed and several injured when Hindus and Muslims clashed.
At least 200 people, including 85 policemen, were injured and 13 protesters killed in a dozen separate incidents of police firing across Kashmir a day after a separatist leader was killed by police while trying to lead Muslim traders into Pakistan.
Muslim protesters shouted slogans against the government as Kashmir's main separatist alliance, the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference, buried senior leader Sheikh Aziz, among the four people killed by police as he led Monday's march.
"This is not protest against land transfer, in fact this is anger against India," Pakiza Dar, a college teacher, yelled.
"Down with security forces, we want freedom," others shouted.
A land dispute has polarised Indian Kashmir, split between the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley and the Hindu-dominated region around Jammu city, severely curbing trade between the two areas.
As a result, traders in Kashmir are trying to sell their goods in neighbouring Pakistan.
The protests have widened to become pro-independence rallies, some of the biggest since a separatist revolt against New Delhi broke out in the region 20 years ago.
Yesterday, some 20,000 Muslims defied a curfew in Bandipora, about 60 kilometres north of Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital, to protest against Monday's killings.
Analysts said the protests had brought the focus back on Kashmir and endangered a sputtering 2004 peace process between India and Pakistan that had helped bring down violence.
Experts said political groups were trying to gain mileage ahead of general elections next year, with the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, shepherding the Hindu cause in Jammu and separatists fuelling anti-India feelings in Kashmir.