Authorities imposed an indefinite curfew in Muslim-majority areas of Indian Kashmir early yesterday and thousands of security forces patrolled the Himalayan region’s main city ahead of another rally to protest Indian rule.
A general strike in Srinagar meanwhile entered a second day yesterday. Separatist leaders called for the weekend strike in Jammu-Kashmir state’s main city on Friday as part of mounting protests to demand freedom for the region.
The unrest is the worst to hit Kashmir in more than a decade and has left at least 34 people dead, mainly protesters.
PHOTO: AFP
Police drove through Muslim neighborhoods in sections of Kashmir Valley before dawn yesterday announcing the latest curfew and warning residents to stay indoors. The curfew does not apply to areas outside the valley, which have large Hindu populations and have been largely peaceful over the last two days.
“Stern action will be taken against violators,” the police warned.
No official reason has been given for the latest curfew in Kashmir, but it comes ahead of a separatist rally and sit-in planned for today in Srinagar.
“We have also called in the army to assist the police in enforcing law and order,” said Botlagauduru Srinivas, a senior police officer.
Thousands of police officers and paramilitary troops in riot gear patrolled the deserted streets of Srinagar yesterday.
Across the city, chants of “We want freedom!” could be heard from public announcement systems at mosques. The announcements also exhorted people to defy the curfew.
No violence or curfew violations were immediately reported.
A mass protest on Friday was the largest in two months of angry rallies that have rocked the Indian portion of Kashmir, pitting the region’s Muslim majority against the Hindu minority. An estimated 275,000 people thronged a main square in Srinagar for the rally called by a coalition of separatist political parties.
The crisis began in June when Muslims demonstrated over a government decision to transfer land to a Hindu shrine, saying it was actually a settlement plan meant to alter the religious balance in the region. After the plan was rescinded, Hindus took to the streets of Jammu, a predominantly Hindu city, demanding it be restored.
On Saturday police had to fire tear gas and use bamboo batons to disperse groups of Hindus and Muslims who defied a curfew and clashed in Poonch, a town 270km northwest of Jammu, senior police official K. Rajendra said. The curfew was imposed in Poonch after violence there early on Saturday.
At least 31 people, including 13 policemen, were injured in Saturday’s clashes, Rajendra said. The curfew in the town continued yesterday but there were no immediate reports of any fresh violence.
There is a long history of separatist movements in Kashmir, which has been divided between India and Pakistan since 1948. Most were peaceful until 1989, when a bloody Islamic insurgency began. The insurgents want to see India’s part of the region merged with Pakistan or given independence.
At least 68,000 people have been killed in the fighting.
‘BARBAROUS ACTS’: The captain of the fishing vessel said that people in checkered clothes beat them with iron bars and that he fell unconscious for about an hour Ten Vietnamese fishers were violently robbed in the South China Sea, state media reported yesterday, with an official saying the attackers came from Chinese-flagged vessels. The men were reportedly beaten with iron bars and robbed of thousands of dollars of fish and equipment on Sunday off the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), which Taiwan claims, as do Vietnam, China, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. Vietnamese media did not identify the nationalities of the attackers, but Phung Ba Vuong, an official in central Quang Ngai province, told reporters: “They were Chinese, [the boats had] Chinese flags.” Four of the 10-man Vietnamese crew were rushed
STICKING TO DEFENSE: Despite the screening of videos in which they appeared, one of the defendants said they had no memory of the event A court trying a Frenchman charged with drugging his wife and enlisting dozens of strangers to rape her screened videos of the abuse to the public on Friday, to challenge several codefendants who denied knowing she was unconscious during their actions. The judge in the southern city of Avignon had nine videos and several photographs of the abuse of Gisele Pelicot shown in the courtroom and an adjoining public chamber, involving seven of the 50 men accused alongside her husband. Present in the courtroom herself, Gisele Pelicot looked at her telephone during the hour and a half of screenings, while her ex-husband
Scientists yesterday announced a milestone in neurobiological research with the mapping of the entire brain of an adult fruit fly, a feat that might provide insight into the brains of other organisms and even people. The research detailed more than 50 million connections between more than 139,000 neurons — brain nerve cells — in the insect, a species whose scientific name is Drosophila melanogaster and is often used in neurobiological studies. The research sought to decipher how brains are wired and the signals underlying healthy brain functions. It could also pave the way for mapping the brains of other species. “You might
PROTESTS: A crowd near Congress waved placards that read: ‘How can we have freedom without education?’ and: ‘No peace for the government’ Argentine President Javier Milei has made good on threats to veto proposed increases to university funding, with the measure made official early yesterday after a day of major student-led protests. Thousands of people joined the demonstration on Wednesday in defense of the country’s public university system — the second large-scale protest in six months on the issue. The law, which would have guaranteed funding for universities, was criticized by Milei, a self-professed “anarcho-capitalist” who came to power vowing to take a figurative chainsaw to public spending to tame chronically high inflation and eliminate the deficit. A huge crowd packed a square outside Congress
RSS