Geelani urges peaceful protests

After five Indian troops were injured by protesters, Syed Ali Geelani urged for peaceful demonstrations by protesters.

SRINAGAR: Senior Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Geelani, who has led protests over the last three months in Srinagar, urged Kashmiris here on Thursday to stage a peaceful mass sit-in outside the Indian security forces' camps.

Peaceful sit-ins, the first of their kind since mass demonstrations began in June, will begin next Tuesday.

People will chant slogans such as 'Go india, Go back' and petitions would also be handed to Indian army camp officers urging them to leave Kashmir.The initiative has been slammed by the Indian army spokesman, who says a new strategy has been chalked out to quell the violence.

Indian troops injured

Also on Thursday, five paramilitary officers were injured in Srinagar when their vehicle crashed as a small group of protesters defied a curfew and pelted them with stones. All major towns in Kashmir remained under curfew for the fifth day.

Indian government faces criticism at home

In New Delhi, the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is facing criticism from several commentators after a five-hour crisis meeting between political leaders on Wednesday. The meeting broke up with a decision to send a fact-finding mission to the Muslim-majority area.

"Wars are won and insurrection defeated by leaders, not committees," wrote commentator Manoj Joshi in the Mail Today newspaper, adding that "the Manmohan Singh government seems bent on defying this logic."

Samar Halarnkar, writing in the Hindustan Times, said "the all-party meeting in Delhi has utterly failed to address the (Kashmir) valley's realities." He warned of the insurgency getting a new lease of life unless the grievances of local people were addressed.