"Security forces fire on marchers at Kashmir rally; At least 3 killed, including leader, in tense region" by Somini Sengupta and Yusuf Jameel, New York Times News Service | August 12, 2008
NEW DELHI - Indian security forces yesterday fired into marchers and killed a prominent Kashmiri separatist in an effort to stop thousands of protesters from the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley from approaching the disputed frontier with Pakistan, the Kashmir state government said.
The government responded by imposing a curfew on Srinagar, the valley's principal city, for the first time in a decade or more.
At least three people died in the protests, which were prompted by a blockade of the main road between the valley and the plains of northern India. More than 100 were injured, mostly in Srinagar and in Baramula, a town about 25 miles from the Pakistan-controlled portion of Kashmir.
The violence yesterday threatened any immediate prospects of calm within Indian-controlled Kashmir, the state known as Jammu and Kashmir, which has been agitated by increasing tensions between Hindus and Muslims in recent months.
And since the place had been relatively calm over the years, you'll excuse me for asking CUI BONO?
The tensions began in late May when the state government turned over 98 acres of land to a panel that administers Amarnath, a popular Hindu shrine high in the Himalayas.
Protests by Muslims faded after the government rescinded the order, but then Hindus in the plains of Jammu started their own. Hindu nationalists blocked a vital highway linking the Kashmir Valley, with its Muslim majority, to the plains of northern India. Their blockade prevented essential supplies from flowing into the valley and the main cash crop - apples, at the height of harvest - from being shipped out.
Apple farmers and traders said last week that they intended to break the blockade by trucking produce through Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. They did not get very far. Yesterday, Indian security forces thwarted marches from numerous cities and towns across the valley well before they reached Pakistani territory.
The state government said last night that the police had warned the marchers not to proceed beyond Baramula, but "the crowd did not relent and in order to disperse the unruly and violent mob, the police was forced to open fire."
A bullet was said to have killed Sheik Abdul Aziz of the moderate separatist coalition known as the Hurriyat Conference, in Baramula. The coalition's leader, Umar Farooq, said Aziz, a former militant, died instantly. Speaking on Indian television last night, Farooq warned that the killing would make matters worse. "The people of Kashmir are not going to sit still at the death of a leader," he said on NDTV.
Who would?
Asked whether a march to Pakistan was wise at a time of heightened tension, Farooq said the road blockade had left Kashmiris with no choice, describing it as "a war against the people of Kashmir."
Police vans with loudspeakers announced a curfew in Srinagar. Thousands defied the call, carrying Aziz's body from the main government hospital to the historic Grand Mosque.
A mob razed a police booth at the hospital entrance. The police forced their way into wards and fired tear gas, Dr. Wasim Qureshi said from the hospital.
The troubles in Kashmir province are the worst since the anti-Indian rebellion in the 1990s.--more--"
Does it feel to you, readers, like the world is about to explode?
Almost as if it were a "planned thing," huh?
