Indian Kashmir tense as CM holds crisis talks

The chief minister of Indian Kashmir held crisis talks in New Delhi over an eruption of violence between anti-India protesters and police that has left more than 30 people dead.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and attended a meeting of the government’s security cabinet.

“There are people in the valley who want the cycle of deaths and killings to continue ... I don’t want them to win,” Abdullah said in his address on the state-run Kashmiri TV channel.

In his address, he also acknowledged the underlying sense of resentment, but argued that further violence would only hinder efforts to bring some economic relief to the insurgency-wracked region.

“I want your cooperation to defeat these elements that are using the blood of the youth for their political interests,” he said, further adding that the continued situation would endanger the youth’s future.

The Times of India reported that the Indian Kashmir is currently embroiled in the deadliest wave of unrest to hit the region for two years. The death in early June of a 17-year-old student — killed by a police tear-gas shell — triggered a rolling series of protests against Indian rule that has seen 32 protesters killed, most of them as a result of police firing.

The curfew remained in force in the entire valley of Indian Kashmir on Monday, as a result of the fresh wave of violence.

One person identified as Tariq Ahmed, who was hit by a teargas shell three days back in Bijbehara in south Kashmir, succumbed to his injuries last night, police sources said. This increased the tally of killed people to 15, since Friday.

Security forces maintained a tight vigil across all the ten districts in Kashmir to maintain law and order, the sources said. Despite the heavy security present, residents regularly defied the persistent curfews to stage large-scale street demonstrations, insisting that the protests have been vocal but peaceful.

Last week, Abdullah’s government ordered a judicial probe into the protesters’ deaths. The inquiry will be led by two retired judges and has been tasked with submitting a report within three months.

Among those killed in protests yesterday were four civilians who had died when a mob last night set ablaze a police station, where explosives and a LPG cylinder were kept, triggering a massive blast in the Khrew area on the outskirts of Srinagar city. A fifth person succumbed to injuries later in the night while another was in critical condition, police had said.

A mob had also laid siege to the police station, 20 kilometres from here, and started pelting stones after which additional forces were rushed to the area who rescued the police personnel in the police station. Army personnel were involved in the rescue work.

Protesters had also attempted to set fire to a police post in Khrew and take away the weapons. As the crowd refused to calm down, police fired at them leading to the death of a woman identified as Afrosa.

In other incidents, two persons were killed as police opened fire to disperse mobs who blocked a national highway on the city outskirts.

The situation in the saffron-rich area of Pampore turned ugly when agitators blocked NH-1A at a number of places by erecting barricades from Pantha Chowk to Pampore, a police spokesman had said.

The mobs blocked the highway at Galandar, Kadlabal, Barsoo, Frastabal and Pampore and also torched the office-cum- residence of a tehsildar. They set fire to a police vehicle and damaged several others.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 3^rd, 2010.