Police fired on fresh anti-India demonstrations in Kashmir yesterday, killing three protesters and bringing the number of civilian deaths in an unprecedented wave of unrest to 102.
The new deaths came as thousands of Kashmiris poured on to the streets shouting “Go back India” and “We want freedom” as New Delhi grappled to find ways to end the escalating pro-independence demonstrations.
Women and children joined young men staging protests, defying curfews imposed across the mainly Muslim region to contain the spiralling unrest.
Police said two men died when security forces fired on stone-hurling protesters blocking a highway north of Srinagar, the main city of Kashmir, where an armed revolt has been under way against Indian rule since 1989.
“We were forced to open fire because of the violence,” a police spokesman said.
Another young man was killed by police who fired on stone-pelting demonstrators in southern Anantag town, police said.
Dozens of demonstrators were also injured in yesterday’s clashes and ferried by anxious friends and family to Kashmir’s already jammed hospitals where doctors have been working round the clock.
The almost daily popular protests are the largest since the armed revolt erupted against New Delhi’s rule and have confronted the world’s largest democracy with a deep internal crisis.
So far, 102 protesters and bystanders, mainly young men, have been killed since June according to an AFP tally, mostly by security forces firing on demonstrators who were pelting them with stones, chunks of wood and concrete.
One policeman has also died in the protests that were ignited by death of a 17-year-old student on June 11 by a police teargas shell.
Kashmir’s top separatist Syed Ali Geelani last week called for protesters to block police and army camps with “peaceful” sit-ins starting Tuesday, but issued a statement cancelling the demonstrations.
The protests were called off in view of “conspiracies being hatched by miscreants to get the people killed and malign the overall movement,” Geelani’s statement said.
“People should now hold protests in their respective district headquarters,” the statement added.
London-based human rights group Amnesty International appealed to Indian authorities to order security forces not to use firearms against demonstrators. “Security forces should use the minimum force necessary to defend themselves,” Amnesty said in a statement.
Domestic media reported the government, which regards Kashmir as an “integral” part of India’s national identity, is sending a 35-member all-party delegation to Kashmir on Monday to seek a way out of the cycle of violence.
Home Minister P. Chidambaram will lead the team, which aims to meet political hardliners, separatists and a cross-section of local people in a bid to defuse tensions, the Hindustan Times newspaper said.
There was no immediate confirmation by the government of the reports.
Authorities briefly relaxed the strict curfew in place since last weekend in most parts of Kashmir to allow locals to stock up on food and medicine. The curfew has prompted complaints of “collective punishment” from residents who have been confined to their homes.
While separatist militant violence in Kashmir has fallen to a 20-year low, the alienation of ordinary Kashmiris has been stoked by India’s heavy military presence and failure to address the region’s demands for self-rule.
A recent poll found two-thirds of Kashmiris wanted independence but fewer than one in 10 wanted a merger with Pakistan.
Pakistan accused India last Friday of “brutality” over its crackdown on demonstrators in the Himalayan region, which is held in part by each of the nuclear-armed neighbours but claimed in full by both.
The criticism drew a stinging response from India, which accused Pakistan of “gratuitous” interference in its internal affairs.
The mountainous region has triggered two of the three wars between the neighbours since their independence from Britain more than 60 years ago.