14 dead in Kashmir unrest
2010-09-14 12:12
Srinagar - Indian police battled stone-throwing rioters who went on the rampage in Kashmir, leaving 14 people dead on the bloodiest day in three months of protests in the Muslim-majority region.
Police shot dead 13 of the anti-Indian rioters, who defied curfews and torched a Christian school on Monday in a surge of anger stoked by the desecration of the Qur'an. One policeman was also killed in the violence.
In New Delhi, the cabinet met to discuss steps to defuse the tension, but decided against heeding calls from some in the government to partially lift a 20-year-old emergency law that is despised by many in Kashmir.
The cabinet said it was "deeply distressed" by the unrest, but offered no new initiatives besides an all-party meeting for later in the week to discuss solutions to the violence, which has left 84 civilians dead since June.
Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan but claimed in full by both. Since 1990, an anti-India insurgency has raged in the part ruled by New Delhi, claiming an estimated 47 000 lives.
A majority of Kashmiris favour independence for the region, according to polls.
Some of Monday's worst rioting was reported in Tangmarg village, 40km from the region's main town of Srinagar, where a crowd chanted anti-US and pro-Islam slogans before burning down a missionary school.
Media blamed
The school was empty at the time and no one was injured in the fire, but at least five civilians were killed when security forces opened fire on the crowd as it attempted to set government buildings ablaze, police said.
Top state police official Kuldeep Khoda told reporters in Srinagar that 13 civilians had been killed and one policeman had also died. He said 45 protesters and 130 policemen had been injured, while 52 people were arrested.
"We are taking necessary measures to prevent loss of life and property all over the Kashmir valley," he added.
Khoda and other local officials blamed Iran's state-run Press TV for fanning simmering tension in Kashmir with a report on a group of Christians who tore pages from the Qur'an in a demonstration outside the White House on Saturday.
Local authorities later banned the station from broadcasting on cable channels in Kashmir, where there was already anger at since-rescinded plans by a Florida pastor to burn the Qur'an.
The US ambassador to India, Timothy J Roemer, said he was "dismayed" at the latest violence and repeated President Barack Obama's condemnation of the Qur'an-ripping.
The Vatican said it deplored the "senseless violence".
Pressure for solution
Hardline Kashmiri separatist Syed Ali Geelani, who has orchestrated recent anti-India demonstrations, called for calm and for Christians to be protected.
The escalating unrest has raised pressure on the central government to try a new approach to solving the conflict.
"We are willing to talk to every person or group which abjures violence, within the framework of our constitution," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told military commanders in New Delhi.
He later held talks with senior ministers on whether to lift the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in four districts of the region, but decided against taking any action.
Human rights groups and local politicians have long campaigned against it, saying the law encourages abuses by the security forces and adds to a sense of occupation in the highly militarised region.
It gives Indian army and paramilitary troops sweeping powers to open fire, search houses, detain suspects and confiscate property, as well as protecting soldiers from prosecution.
Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah has urged the federal government to withdraw the act, but has met with strong resistance from the Indian military.
- SAPA
