Indian paramilitary soldier in Srinagar. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
SRINAGAR: Several people, including an AFP photographer, were injured Friday in Indian administered Kashmir when government forces thwarted a procession to a southern town reeling under curfew, police and witnesses said.
A top leader, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq had called for a mass march to Shopian, around 45 kilometres from the state capital Srinagar, to protest the 12-day curfew in the town.
Police and paramilitaries fired tear gas and pellet guns to prevent hundreds of rock throwing protestors in the Nowhatta area of the old town Srinagar from marching ahead.
"Two persons were injured including one with pellets," Kashmir's police chief Abdul Gani Mir told AFP.
Eyewitness however said several were injured by pellet guns fired by the police.
The injured included AFP photographer Tauseef Mustafa and a cameraman working for Iran's Press TV, both of whom were hit on the head by rocks. Both needed stitches but were not seriously injured.
Authorities have imposed a round-the-clock curfew in Shopian since September 8, a day after Indian paramilitary forces killed four men in the town.
The region has been tense since the latest killings, the victims of which were first described by the authorities as rebels but three of them were later identified as local students.
The fourth man is yet to be identified and the government has instituted an enquiry into the incident.
COMMENTS (5)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
If Kashmiris dont like India they can go to Karachi and die. I am surprised that only people were injured and not dead. If it happened in Pakistan all the people and their families would have disappeared read slaughtered like it happens everyday in Balochistan. You are very lucky, Kashmiris but do not push it as Indian Army is not known for patience.
What is wrong with the ET? Occupied Kashmir is more like it.
If this would have been egypt there would no one living there right now. I hope kashmiris migrate to pakistan. Recently pakistani hindus have left pakistan and are staying in delhi because of no security in pakistan.
Indian Kashmir ?? ? I thought it was a disputed territory according to UN.
It's heartening to know that Pakistanis are more worried about Indian Kashmir than Pakistan's Karachi.