Three policemen and a woman were killed in Kashmir, police said Wednesday, as the restive Muslim-majority region prepared to begin the fasting month of Ramadan.
Appealing to Kashmiris to “give peace a chance,” Singh had said Tuesday that his government would consider any consensus proposal for autonomy as long as it remained “within the ambit” of the constitution.
He also announced the creation of a panel of experts that would draw up a “jobs plan” for Kashmir where rampant unemployment - especially among young people - has fuelled resentment against Indian rule.
But senior Kashmir separatists rejected Singh’s initiative.
“Our fight is for independence, not autonomy,” Javed Mir, a former militant commander turned separatist politician, said.
“We will continue our fight for our goal through peaceful protests,” said Mir, who had been among the first Kashmiris to take up arms in 1989 when frustration against Indian rule boiled over into a full-blown insurgency.
Under the terms of its accession to India in 1947 - after independence from Britain and the sub-continent’s division -- Kashmir was granted a relatively high degree of autonomy, excluding areas like defense and foreign affairs.
But those powers have been eroded over the years, and renewed promises of greater autonomy gain little traction in separatist circles.
“Our struggle is not for restoration of autonomy. It is to seek our right to self-determination,” Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, an influential moderate separatist and cleric, said.
“We should be allowed to decide whether we want to remain with India, accede to Pakistan or carve out an independent state,” he said.
The Kashmir Legislative Assembly in 2000 passed a resolution favoring full restoration of the state’s autonomy, but it was rejected by the then Hindu-nationalist government in New Delhi.
Meanwhile, the United Nations has asked Indian forces cracking down on protests in Kashmir to stop wearing the distinctive powder-blue helmets of the UN peacekeeping force, a UN official said Wednesday.
About 300 members of the paramilitary Rapid Action Force have been deployed in Kashmir since last week to help quell nearly two months of civil unrest that has reportedly killed more than 50 protesters and bystanders.
Dozens of members of the force, armed with automatic rifles and dressed in full riot gear, have used UN-marked blue helmets and shields as they faced off against the protesters in the streets of Srinagar. While the bulk of their duties consist of marching down streets in a show of strength, they have also taken part in baton charges and fired tear gas into the crowds.
Their use of UN equipment has perplexed many Kashmiris, who wondered why UN troops had taken a side in the conflict and were assisting Indian forces.
“We’ve already informed the authorities about this problem,” said an officer at the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan. “The authorities have promised to solve this situation.” Prabhakar Tripathi, a spokesman for Indian paramilitary forces in Kashmir, said some soldiers had brought the helmets and shields back with them after finishing tours of duties with various UN peacekeeping missions.
“We have been using them elsewhere in the country as well. I don’t think there is anything wrong in using these helmets and shields,” Tripathi said.
He said the troops were using the equipment because it was still in good condition.
