Security forces imposed a strict curfew in Indian Kashmir yesterday, where anti-India protests have claimed 55 lives in two months as the region geared up for a major national holiday.
Authorities stepped up the curfew in the main city Srinagar after four people were killed on Friday in the latest of a series of demonstrations against New Delhi’s rule in the Muslim-majority Himalayan region.
“We have enforced a curfew across Srinagar to maintain law and order,” chief district magistrate Meraj Kakroo said.
The latest killings — of three teenage students and a 65 year-old-man — came as Kashmiris marked the first Friday of the Ramadan fasting month where many people in the mostly Muslim region visit mosques to pray.
The deaths occurred days ahead of India’s Independence Day celebrations of the anniversary marking the end of British rule in 1947. Separatists observe the day as a “black day.”
Srinagar is the summer capital of Indian Kashmir where Islamic militants have been fighting against India’s rule for the past two decades.
The anti-India protests, which began when a teenage student was killed by a police teargas shell on June 11 in Srinagar, have brought Kashmir’s towns and cities to a standstill. The majority of protesters killed have been young men and teenagers. Each death has created what Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh calls another “cycle of violence.”
The killings sparked further demonstrations on Friday across Kashmir, police said, adding that in the ensuing clashes 30 security personnel and 10 civilians were injured. Three of the injured were in a “very critical condition” doctors said.
In Srinagar, police announced a “strict curfew and strict action against violators” over loudspeakers.
On Friday, influential separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was freed from weeks of house arrest by the authorities and led thousands of residents through Srinagar to protest Indian rule.
The troops moved into Srinagar’s streets yesterday morning to enforce the curfew after Muslims offered dawn prayers.
India and Pakistan each hold part of Kashmir, but claim it in full. The nuclear-armed neighbors have fought two wars over the region since independence in 1947.
India has accused Pakistan of stoking the unrest.
India restores road links to Ladakh as new tourists arrive
In other developments, India’s army said yesterday it has restored key road links damaged by freak floods that hit the high-altitude trekking area of Ladakh as scores of tourists continued to arrive despite the disaster.
Sudden rain storms more than a week ago triggered flash floods that killed 189 people, police said, and swept away buildings, roads and power cables in the town of Leh, the main city of Ladahk in the Himalayas.
Some 400 people are still missing, authorities said.
“The army was able to open Leh-Manali and Leh-Srinagar road for traffic” after building seven bridges in less than a week, army spokesman S.N. Acharya said.
The roads connected the ravaged town of Leh to Indian Kashmir’s summer capital of Srinagar and the neighboring Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.
“We are still looking for the missing people” who may include foreigners, Acharya said.
Despite the devastation, tourism officials said foreign tourists who had booked treks before the disaster were still arriving in Ladakh.
Thousands of visitors from India and elsewhere travel to Ladakh each year during July and August for trekking and rafting expeditions and to experience the area’s ancient Buddhist culture.
Officials said as many as 2,000 foreigners were in the region when the disaster struck, out of which five are reported to have died.
The Kashmir State Government said it was still trying to establish the exact number and location of tourists via embassies and travel agencies.
Those flood victims in remote areas have had little choice but to hunker down and wait for rescue after roads and trekking trails in remote areas were washed away.
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