SRINAGAR: Thousands of Hindu and Muslim protesters clashed with government forces in different parts of Indian Kashmir yesterday as anger over a government decision relating to land and a Hindu shrine continued to grow.
Eighteen protesters and 12 policemen were injured in a clash at Jurian, a village on the outskirts of Jammu city, Ramesh Kumar, a police officer said. Kumar said police had to fire in the air and use tear gas shells after thousands of Hindu protesters burned a police post and a government office, he said. Three policemen were seriously injured.
Railway traffic between Jammu and rest of the country was halted yesterday after rioting protesters damaged part of the tracks, he added. On Monday, one Muslim protester was killed when a tear gas shell fired by police hit his chest. Muslims in Srinagar are protesting against alleged assaults by Hindus on Muslims in Jammu.
Muslim protesters yesterday pelted stones at the police and paramilitary forces which responded by firing tear gas shells to break up the demonstrations at many places in Srinagar, said Prabhakar Tripathi, a spokesman for the Central Reserve Police Force.
“We will continue peaceful protests against the economic blockade and harassment of Muslims by Hindu extremists,” said Syed Ali Shah Geelani, a hard-line separatist leader. The protests have led India’s government to reach out to the main Hindu nationalist opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party, to defuse the crisis.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called a meeting of India’s political parties today to discuss the situation. Shops, businesses and schools remained closed for the second day yesterday in Srinagar, the biggest city in the state.
The Kashmir Valley was running short of food, fuel and medical supplies. Traders associations said lorries loaded with vital goods like medicines, vegetables, meat and fuel were stranded on the region’s main 300-km (185 mile) highway, the only surface link between the Kashmir Valley and the rest of India.
Anger between Hindus and Muslims in the Himalayan region has flared since June when the government in Jammu-Kashmir decided to award 99 acres of land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board.
