ஜம்முவில் இந்துக்களுக்கு எதிராக இழைக்கப்படும் அநீதிகளுக்கு எதிராக போராட்டம் தொடர்கிறது. மேலும் ஒரு இந்து சுட்டுக்கொலை

ஜம்முவில் இந்துக்களுக்கு எதிராக இழைக்கப்படும் அநீதிகளுக்கு எதிராக போராட்டம் தொடர்கிறது. மேலும் ஒரு இந்து காஷ்மீர் போலீஸாரால் சுட்டுக்கொலை செய்யப்பட்டார்

Strike, protests hits Kashmir as Indian PM bids to defuse tensions
4 hours ago

SRINAGAR, India (AFP) — A Hindu protester was shot dead in army firing in Indian Kashmir on Wednesday as Premier Manmohan Singh was due to hold talks with political parties in a bid to defuse tensions in the region.

The protester died in the mainly Hindu Kathua district in southern Kashmir when the army opened fire to quell violent demonstrators who defied a curfew and were blocking a highway in an effort to impose an economic blocade on the mainly Muslim Kashmir valley, police said.

"The army had to open fire after police failed to control the unruly mob," a police officer said, asking not to be identified.

The latest turmoil erupted in June after the state government reneged on a plan to transfer land to the shrine following violent protests in the Muslim-dominated Kashmir valley that left six dead and hundreds injured.

The government's about-face ignited protests in the mainly Hindu region of Jammu, where three protesters have died since last week.

A strike, meanwhile, paralysed northern Muslim areas of the region on Wednesday.

It shut shops, banks, post offices and businesses in the summer capital Srinagar, urban hub of an Islamic separatist revolt that has raged since 1989 and left at least 43,000 dead.

There were similar shutdowns in other mostly Muslim areas of the state.

Hardline separatist Syed Ali Geelani, who called the strike, warned authorities not to "please (Hindu) fanatics" by transferring land to a Hindu shrine.

In Srinagar, angry protesters fought running battles with police near the main mosque and several other places.

Separatist Geelani warned that Muslims would launch "a massive agitation" if the shrine received the land, which it wants to create facilities for tens of thousands of pilgrims visiting a mountain grotto.

At the talks to be held later Wednesday of the country's major political parties in New Delhi, Singh hoped to get assurances from the main opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janta Party that it will not fuel tensions in the state amid reports its party activists were involved in the violence.

But in Jammu, a Hindu alliance spearheading the protests declared the "outcome of the meeting will not be binding on us."

"We will keep up our protests until we get the land for the shrine," said Leela Karan Sharma.

Before the row erupted, Kashmir had been enjoying a lull in violence while India and Pakistan worked on an ongoing peace process.