Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Anti-India protests hit Kashmir after top rebel is killed
SRINAGAR » One civilian was killed and dozens of others injured Saturday after massive anti-India protests and clashes erupted in Indiancontrolled Kashmir following the killing of a prominent rebel commander and his associate in a gunbattle with government forces in the disputed region.
Rebel leader Sabzar Ahmed Bhat and a fellow militant were killed after troops cordoned off the southern Tral area overnight following a tip that rebels were hiding there, police said.
The gunbattle ended later Saturday and soldiers recovered the bodies of two militants. However, they were searching the area for at least one more body, police said.
As the violence raged, hundreds of angry residents chanting anti-India slogans marched in an attempt to help the trapped rebels escape.
Clashes between rockthrowing protesters and government forces erupted in different places in the area, with police and paramilitary soldiers firing shotgun pellets and tear gas to stop the protests.
Witnesses said a young man was killed and several other people were injured after government forces fired on the protesters near the site of the gunbattle. Kashmir’s police chief, S.P. Vaid, said the man was killed by crossfire.
As the news of the rebel leader’s killing spread in the region, thousands of people, including students, took to the streets shouting “Go India, go back” and “We want freedom.”
Traders shuttered shops and businesses across the Kashmir Valley, including in the region’s main city of Srinagar. Officials said clashes were reported in more than four dozen places in the region.
Dozens of civilians were reported injured in the clashes. Police said at least 25 police officers and paramilitary soldiers were also injured.
Authorities suspended most internet services in the region a day after they lifted a monthlong ban on 22 social networking sites, including Facebook and Twitter. The social media ban on April 26 came after videos depicting the alleged abuse of Kashmiris by Indian forces fueled widespread protests.
Anti-India sentiment runs deep among the region’s mostly Muslim population and most people support the rebels’ cause against Indian rule despite a decades-long military crackdown to fight the armed rebellion.
Separatist leaders who challenge India’s sovereignty over Kashmir called for a general strike on Sunday and Monday.
Meanwhile, authorities declared an indefinite security lockdown in parts of Srinagar and other major cities and towns across the Kashmir Valley starting Sunday, which marks the beginning of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
Vaid, the police chief, called the rebel commander’s killing a “major success” against militants in the region and said the restrictions were “necessary to control the law and order situation.”