Indian police used teargas and gunfire to disperse hundreds of protesters in Kashmir yesterday as the death toll among defiant demonstrators rose to five, officials said.
Officers said they also used batons as protesters broke a curfew and gathered in southern Achabal village a day after four people were killed in police shootings and over 100 injured in clashes as the restrictions were flouted.
One of the injured died in hospital yesterday, doctors said.
“A strict curfew remains in force all over the Kashmir valley,” police officer Pervez Ahmed said in summer capital Srinagar, as New Delhi tried to end the biggest demonstrations since a revolt against New Delhi’s rule by the region’s Muslim majority broke out in 1989.
The latest troubles were triggered by a state government plan made public in June to donate land to a Hindu shrine trust in the Kashmir valley. The decision was later reversed after massive Muslim protests, angering Hindus.
The crackdown prevented a planned rally on Monday by separatists in Srinagar’s historic Red Square.
Meanwhile, troops searched for separatist leaders yesterday, one day after three were detained in a bid to defuse protests. They raided the homes of another dozen leaders as the manhunt began on Monday night, but there have been few new arrests of senior separatists.
More than 600 people have been injured in clashes over the two weeks of protests. The state, whose tourist brochures proclaim Kashmir valley as “paradise on earth”, has suffered more than US$1 billion in lost business.
“We appeal to the people of Kashmir to continue peaceful protests,” a joint statement of Kashmiri separatists said. “We strongly condemned the excessive use of force against the unarmed protesters.”
The crisis has strained relations between India and Pakistan, which both claim the region. It has also raised fears of communal tension in the state, which is split between the Hindu-majority region around Jammu city and the Muslim Kashmir Valley.
Residents say the deaths have also fueled more anger against India and further alienated Kashmiris from New Delhi.
“During three months of violent protests in Jammu police have killed three Hindus, just three Hindus,” said 45-year-old Gausi Khan, a doctor.
“And in just two weeks these people have killed more than 30 people [Muslims]. This simple mathematics tells you India treats us like slaves,” Khan said.
To enforce the curfew in Srinagar authorities say they have poured more Central Reserve Police Force federal police into the region. Most of these police are Hindus who are from outside the state. They have been criticized by Kashmiris for using excessive force, with reports that they have attacked journalists and ambulance drivers.
SPIRITUAL COUPLE: Martha Louise has said she can talk with angels, while her husband, Durek Verrett, claims that he communicates with a broad range of spirits Social media influencers, reality stars and TV personalities were among the guests as the Norwegian king’s eldest child, Princess Martha Louise, married a self-professed US shaman on Saturday in a wedding ceremony following three days of festivities. The 52-year-old Martha Louise and Durek Verrett, who claims to be a sixth-generation shaman from California, tied the knot in the picturesque small town of Geiranger, one of Norway’s major tourist attractions located on a fjord with stunning views. Following festivities that started on Thursday, the actual wedding ceremony took place in a large white tent set up on a lush lawn. Guests
Four days after last scanning in for work, a 60-year-old office worker in Arizona was found dead in a cubicle at her workplace, having never left the building during that time, authorities said. Denise Prudhomme, who worked at a Wells Fargo corporate office, was found dead in a third-floor cubicle on Aug. 20, Tempe police said. She had last scanned into the building on Aug. 16 at 7am, police said. There was no indication she scanned out of the building after that. Prudhomme worked in an underpopulated area of the building. Her cause of death had not been determined, but police said the preliminary
‘DISCONNECTED’: Politics is one factor driving news avoidance, a professor said, adding that people who do not trust the government are more likely to tune it out Hannah Wong cried when the Hong Kong government effectively forced the territory’s Apple Daily and Stand News out of business three years ago. Among the last news firms in the territory willing to criticize the government openly, many saw their end as a sign that the old Hong Kong was gone for good. Today, the 35-year-old makeup artist says she has gone from reading the news every day to reducing her intake drastically to protect herself from despair. Four years into a crackdown on dissent that has swept up democracy-leaning journalists, rights advocates and politicians in the territory, a lot of people
Thailand has netted more than 1.3 million kilograms of highly destructive blackchin tilapia fish, the government said yesterday, as it battles to stamp out the invasive species. Shoals of blackchin tilapia, which can produce up to 500 young at a time, have been found in 19 provinces, damaging ecosystems in rivers, swamps and canals by preying on small fish, shrimp and snail larvae. As well as the ecological impact, the government is worried about the effect on the kingdom’s crucial fish-farming industry. Fishing authorities caught 1,332,000kg of blackchin tilapia from February to Wednesday last week, said Nattacha Boonchaiinsawat, vice president of a parliamentary