SRINAGAR: Tens of thousands of people shouting freedom slogans massed yesterday in revolt-hit Indian Kashmir to mourn 22 protesters killed in police firing during huge demonstrations in the mainly Muslim region.
Separatist leader Sheikh Aziz was among at least 22 Muslim protesters killed when police opened fire this week during some of the biggest protests since a separatist revolt broke out in the region 20 years ago.
The dispute over land allocated to Hindu pilgrims visiting a shrine in Kashmir has snowballed into full-scale anti-India protests, uniting separatists and reviving calls for Kashmiri independence.
The row pits Muslims in Kashmir against Hindus in Jammu, the two main regions which make up the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, in one of the toughest challenges facing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government since it took office in 2004.
Protesters carrying black and green Islamic flags headed for Aziz’s hometown, Pampore, about 12 km from Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar. Aziz was a leader of Kashmir’s main separatist alliance, the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference. Thousands of mourners, carrying photographs of the slain leader, flooded into Pampore by bus, car and motorcycle, witnesses said.
Aziz was a former militant who had renounced violence and joined Kashmir’s political separatist alliance to seek independence for the region. “He is our hero — he has laid a fresh foundation for our freedom struggle with his martyrdom,” said Ayub Laway, one of Aziz’s supporters.
In the shutdown-hit Kashmir Valley, the vehicles carrying the people had lined up the Srinagar-Jammu national highway that passes through the Pampore town. All the senior separatist leaders including Mirwaiz Maulvi Omar Farooq, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mohammad Yasin Malik, Shabir Ahmad Shah and Naeem Ahmad Khan were present at yesterday’s rally.
“We cannot remain dependent on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway after the blockade. We have to think of alternatives, and the alternative is available in Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road,” Farooq told a cheering crowd of thousands of people shouting pro-freedom slogans.
Geelani also addressed the gathering and called for “resolution of the 60-year-old Kashmir issue for peace in the region.” “We are not against the people of India. We want promises made to people of Kashmir by the Indian leadership fulfilled.”
Late yesterday, Indian soldiers shot dead two suspected militants when a group of guerrillas tried to sneak into Indian Kashmir from the Pakistani side, an army spokesman said.
