Indian troops beat Muslim protesters. Masked Kashmiri separatist. Pics by Yawar Nazir and Tauseff Muhammed
As if the world needs any more bad news. Thousands of pro-separatist Kashmiris defied curfew today, and violence in Indian-held Kashmir claims 13 civilian lives:
Thousands defied a curfew in Srinagar and other towns in the mainly Muslim Kashmir valley for a second day. One person died in clashes in Jammu region. The curfew was imposed ahead of the burial of a senior separatist who died after police opened fire on Monday.
Tensions are rising and threaten peace hopes after years of relative calm. Officials say Tuesday’s death toll stands at 13, after two people succumbed to injuries sustained a day earlier.
Violent demonstrations began two months ago in the state when a decision to transfer a small area of land to the trust which runs a Hindu shrine provoked an angry Muslim reaction. When the land transfer was abandoned, groups from the state’s Hindu minority began furious protests of their own.
Meanwhile, peace talks between India and Pakistan are failing, says the NYT. Because the new Pakistani leadership has little control over the ISI and Army, India feels they are negotiating “three steps from the real power.” Also, Kashmiri militant groups are now fighting India and America in Afghanistan:
TAGS: attack, India, Muslim, warFor India, argued the official, that distance has become all the more vast in recent months, since it is negotiating with an elected Pakistani government that has little influence over the country’s more powerful army and spy agency…
In Washington, American intelligence officials hinted at a new shared worry for India and Afghanistan. Militant groups that had been operating inside Indian-controlled Kashmir have been carrying out attacks inside Afghanistan lately. They include, according to American officials, Lashkar-e-Taiba, a group dominated by ethnic Punjabis from Pakistan that New Delhi blames for several terrorist attacks inside India.
“The foreign-fighter problem in Afghanistan and Pakistan is growing, and we consider non-Pashtun Pakistanis, such as elements of formerly Kashmiri groups, a part of that growing problem,”said a United States Defense Department official.
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