Give peace a chance - Indian PM

INDIA: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appealed Tuesday to Kashmiris “to give peace a chance” after almost daily anti-India street protests that have claimed at least 50 lives since June.

“I am convinced the only way forward in Jammu and Kashmir is along the path of dialogue and reconciliation,” Singh said in a televised address to an all-party meeting called in New Delhi to discuss the restive region.

“I appeal to the people of Jammu and Kashmir to give peace a chance.”

The appeal was the first from the Indian Premier since violence brought life to a standstill in Kashmir’s towns and cities after a teenage student was killed by a police teargas shell on June 11.

At least 50 people — mostly young men or teenagers — have died in the violence, most of them as a result of police firing, in the deadliest spate of protests to shake the Muslim-majority region for two years.

The prime minister’s call came as Indian security forces continued to enforce a strict curfew in most parts of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, to prevent protests against New Delhi’s rule.

India and Pakistan each hold part of Kashmir but claim it in full. The nuclear-armed neighbours have fought two wars over the region since independence in 1947.

NEW DELHI, AFP