Indian Kashmir locked down in bid to stem deadly protests

Thousands of Indian troops enforced a strict curfew in parts of Kashmir in a bid to stem three weeks of deadly protests.

Thousands of Indian troops enforced a strict curfew in parts of Kashmir on Wednesday in a bid to stem three weeks of deadly protests that have claimed 11 lives and led to soaring tensions.

Six people have been killed in the last four days alone during demonstrations against the killing of Kashmiris by Indian security forces which began with the death of a schoolboy earlier this month.

Each killing has sparked a new cycle of violence and state chief minister Omar Abdullah appealed on Tuesday for calm and for people to stay in their homes, adding that widespread curfews would allow tempers to cool.

Northern Sopore town was locked down for the fifth day running and neighbourhoods are also under curfew in the Kashmiri summer capital Srinagar and other towns in the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley.

Fatal shootings by security forces on Tuesday claimed the lives of three teenagers in southern Anantnag district, about 55 kilometres (34 miles) south of Srinagar, which is also under curfew.

Also on Wednesday, extra forces were deployed to protect the start of an annual Hindu pilgrimage to the icy Amarnath shrine in the foothills of Himalayas. In the past, it has been the target of Islamic militant groups.

“Adequate security arrangements for the smooth conduct of yatra (pilgrimage) are in place,” Kashmir’s tourism minister Rigzin Jora told reporters, as he flagged off the first batch of 1,274 pilgrims from the Kashmiri winter capital, Jammu.

The pilgrims, including 400 ash-smeared saints, left Jammu in caravans of buses, cars and trucks protected by machine-gun wielding paramilitary forces.

Even where curfews were not in place on Wednesday, life came to a standstill because of a general strike called for, the second day running, by separatists.

India and Pakistan each hold Kashmir in part but claim it in full. They have fought two of their three wars over it.

Separatists have fought a decade-long battle against Indian rule, favouring independence for the region or for it to join neighbour Muslim-majority Pakistan.

“There is a two-track struggle going on in the (Kashmir) valley,” wrote columnist Manoj Joshi in the Mail Today newspaper. “The first is a military conflict involving Pakistan-trained and armed militants. “The second is a civil protest movement which is a melange of separatism, Islamism and alienation against misrule and lack of avenues for productive employment,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1st, 2010.