World | India
PM calls meeting as death toll in Kashmir mounts
At least 13 protesters were killed and scores injured in the Kashmir valley on Tuesday as crowds took to the streets in defiance of a ban orders and clashed with security forces. In Kishtwar, in the plains, the situation teetered on the brink of a communal clash.
- IANS
- Published: 23:59 August 12, 2008
Srinagar/ New Delhi: At least 13 protesters were killed and scores injured in the Kashmir valley on Tuesday as crowds took to the streets in defiance of a ban orders and clashed with security forces. In Kishtwar, in the plains, the situation teetered on the brink of a communal clash.
In New Delhi, a worried Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called for another all-party meeting today to hammer out a formula that would be acceptable to all parties to the Amarnath shrine row.
Political leaders who had met last week got together again yesterday to discuss the issue but to no avail.
No consensus
"The leaders deliberated on the issue but could not arrive at a workable formula or solution that would please the people," said a senior government functionary.
Incidents of firing were reported from Srinagar and Lasjan, an area on the city's outskirts, besides the towns of Bandipora and Nagabal.
Thousands of protesters reached the residence of Hurriyat Conference chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who has been kept under house arrest. A security cordon near the Hyderpora home of Syed Ali Geelani, head of the more hardline Hurriyat, was also breached.
Both leaders subsequently led marches to the Jamia Mosque - where the funeral of Hurriyat leader Shaikh Abdul Aziz was being held.
A large procession led by the separatist Shia leader Aga Hassan Badgami also marched towards the Jamia Mosque from Badgam district. Aziz was killed along with four others while leading a huge procession in Kashmir on Monday.
Slain leader laid to rest
Thousands of mourners led by senior separatist leaders joined the funeral procession of slain Hurriyat leader Shaikh Abdul Aziz in Srinagar yesterday.
Aziz, who was killed on Monday while leading a procession in Kashmir, was buried at the Martyrs' graveyard in the city.
Senior separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik led the mourners' procession that started from the Jamia Mosque in the old city area after being forcibly freed from house arrest.
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