The chief minister of Indian Kashmir flew to New Delhi for crisis talks yesterday over an eruption of violence between anti-India protesters and police that has left more than 30 people dead.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who appealed for an end to the violence in a television broadcast on Sunday, was to meet Home Minister P. Chidambaram and later Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, state officials said.
Indian Kashmir is currently embroiled in the deadliest wave of unrest to hit the Muslim-majority region for two years.
The death in early June of a 17-year-old student — killed by a police tear-gas shell — triggered a rolling series of protests against Indian rule that has seen 31 protesters killed.
Thirteen people have died since Friday alone, including four who were killed on Sunday when an arson attack on a police station ignited some stored explosives, demolishing the building.
“There are people in the valley who want the cycle of deaths and killings to continue ... I don’t want them to win,” Abdullah said in his address on a state-run Kashmiri TV channel.
“I want your cooperation to defeat these elements who are using the blood of the youth for their political interests,” he said.
A 20-year separatist insurgency in Indian Kashmir has claimed thousands of lives, although the level of violence had been on the decrease in recent years.
India and Pakistan each hold part of Kashmir but claim it in full. The neighbors have fought two wars over the region since independence in 1947.
Indian officials say Pakistan-backed hardline separatists are behind the latest unrest, but locals say it is the spontaneous result of years of pent-up frustration, and alleged abuses by police and paramilitary forces.
Decades of on-off political dialogue about the status of the disputed territory have made no tangible progress, and unemployment is running high, especially among young people.
In his television address, Abdullah acknowledged the underlying sense of resentment, but argued that further violence would only hinder efforts at bringing some economic relief to the insurgency-wracked region.
“I know the youth of the valley is angry ... it sees no hope ... no light in this darkness. I want to lead them [and] show them light, but only if my government gets a chance to work,” he said. “Our children would not be able to compete with the rest of the world if situation like this continues. The future of the youth is in danger.”
Police and paramilitary forces sought to enforce a strict curfew yesterday in the main Kashmiri city of Srinagar and other towns and villages across the Kashmir valley.
Despite the heavy security presence, residents have regularly defied the persistent curfews to stage large-scale street demonstrations.
Police say they have only opened fire after coming under attack, and after first trying to disperse the crowds with baton charges and tear gas.
Locals insist say the protests have been vocal but peaceful.
Last week, Abdullah’s government ordered a judicial probe into the protester deaths. The inquiry will be led by two retired judges and has been tasked with submitting a report within three months.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
RSS