| Submit your comments on this article |
| India-Pakistan |
| Six Indian security forces wounded in Kashmir clashes |
| 2010-09-17 |
| [Dawn] Protesters defied a round-the-clock curfew in Indian-administered Kashmir on Thursday and attacked government forces with rocks, wounding six of them, police said. On the outskirts of Srinagar, teenagers stoned a vehicle of paramilitary soldiers that overturned, injuring five soldiers. In the town of Baramulla, one police officer was maimed as government forces fired tear gas and swung batons to disperse scores of rock-throwing protesters, a police officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to reporters. Violent civil unrest against New Delhi's rule in Kashmir has roiled the disputed Himalayan region for the past three months and killed at least 94 people, including 22 who died from police fire this week. The unrest prompted authorities to declare the curfew, under which violators can be shot. There is little sign of the unrest abating. The All Parties Hurriyat Conference, an umbrella organisation of separatist political and religious groups, is calling for people to march on Indian military camps on September 21, which could escalate the protests. An insurgency seeking the region's independence or merger with Pakistain that broke out in 1989 has waned in recent years, but the continuing Indian military presence is widely resented by Kashmiris. Wide scale street protests have broken out for three consecutive summers. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met with top Indian politicians in New Delhi and decided to send a cross-party delegation to assess the situation in Indian-administered Kashmir, but separatist leaders dismissed it as a public relations ploy and Kashmiri analysts were sceptical it would achieve much. |
| Posted by:Fred |