Curfew in Indian Kashmir to prevent protest rally

INDIA: Police warned Monday they would shoot any violators of an indefinite curfew imposed in Indian Kashmir to prevent a pro-independence rally.

Thousands of police and paramilitary soldiers in riot gear drove through neighborhoods and went to people’s homes warning them to stay indoors, said Ghulam Nabi, a resident of Nowhatta district in Srinagar, the summer capital of India’s only Muslim majority state of Jammu-Kashmir.

In recent months the disputed Himalayan region has seen some of the largest protests against Indian rule in two decades. At least 45 people have died in the unrest, most of them killed when soldiers opened fire on Muslim demonstrators.

Anti-India sentiment runs deep in Indian-administered Kashmir, where most people favor independence from mainly Hindu India, or a merger with predominantly Muslim Pakistan. Separatist groups have been fighting since 1989 to end Indian rule, leaving an estimated 68,000 people, most of them civilians, dead.

Indian police and paramilitary forces also prevented people from visiting mosques for Monday morning prayers in Srinagar and other places in the region, residents said. Streets were deserted with shops, schools and businesses shut for the day.

Police announced over loudspeakers they would shoot anyone found violating the curfew, residents said.

“People should not violate the curfew, it’s an offense,” warned B. Srinivas, inspector-general of state police.

The recent demonstrations subsided during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ended Sept. 30. But separatist leaders sought to rekindle the protests with a huge rally Monday at Lal Chowk, a central square in Srinagar.

Authorities announced an indefinite curfew across the Kashmir Valley on Sunday.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, which have fought two of their three wars over the region. Both the neighboring countries claim the region in its entirety.

In an attempt to defuse the protests, police on Saturday arrested Mohammed Yasin Malik, a key separatist leader, said Srinivas.

Another top separatist leader, Mirwaiz Omer Farooq, was put under house arrest, Srinivas said.

Before he was arrested, Malik called the protests “a people’s revolution” and vowed to defy the curfew. “Any attempt to break these peaceful protests will have disastrous consequences,” he said.

Srinagar, Monday, AP