Kashmir’s top elected official resigns following protests

India - The top elected official in India’s Jammu-Kashmir state resigned Monday after weeks of violent anti-India protests over the transfer of government land to a Hindu shrine in this Muslim-majority region.

Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told the state parliament early Monday that he intended to step down, after a key party withdrew from the ruling coalition in protest at the government’s handling of a land transfer controversy.

At least six people were killed and hundreds wounded in protests over the land dispute.

State Governor Narinder Nath Vohra later accepted his resignation, said Madan Mantoo, a spokesman for the governor’s office.

The unrest was sparked when the state government transferred 99 acres (40 hectares) of land last month to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, a trust running a revered Hindu shrine.

Muslim Kashmiris denounced the land transfer as an attempt to build Hindu settlements in the area and alter the demographics in India’s only Muslim-majority state.

Faced with some of the largest protests against Indian rule in nearly two decades, Azad revoked the order - a move that led to further unrest, angering Hindus who staged protests in Jammu, a predominantly Hindu area of the state.

Following the protests, the People’s Democratic Party said it would no longer support the governing Congress party in the state.

After Azad’s resignation other parties will be given a chance to form a majority coalition. If they fail, elections, already scheduled for October, could be brought forward.

SRINAGAR, AP