World | India
Police stop Kashmir traders from going to Pakistan
Thousands of Muslim traders clashed with police stopping them from crossing into Pakistan on Monday to protest what they said was an economic blockade of the region by Hindus over a land row, officials said.
- Agencies
- Published: 14:29 August 11, 2008
Srinagar: Thousands of Muslim traders clashed with police stopping them from crossing into Pakistan on Monday to protest what they said was an economic blockade of the region by Hindus over a land row, officials said.
Dozens were injured as police also closed a highway to Pakistan which the traders tried to use to ferry farm products they said were rotting due to the "economic blockade".
Hindus in Kashmir's winter capital of Jammu, demanding the state government transfer forest land to a Hindu shrine trust, have attacked lorries carrying supplies to the Kashmir valley.
The land row has sparked some of Kashmir's worst religious riots since a separatist Muslim revolt against New Delhi broke out in 1989. At least eight people have died and hundreds have been injured in protests.
On Monday, police fired tear gas shells and rubber bullets to stop thousands of protesters near Baramulla town, 70 km from the de facto border with Pakistan.
"We erected barricades at several places on the Srinagar- Muzafarrabad road," said Sajjad Ahmad, a senior police officer, adding that as a precautionary measure police were not allowing any vehicles to ply the road.
The land row has polarised Indian Kashmir, split between the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley and the Hindu-dominated region around Jammu city.
The dispute began after the Kashmir government promised to give forest land to the trust that runs Amarnath, a cave shrine visited by Hindu pilgrims. Many Muslims were enraged.
The government then backed down from its decision, which in turn angered many Hindus in Jammu, the winter capital of the region, which is under curfew for most of last week.
In Jammu, shops were shut down by Hindus, as the protests entered the 42nd day on Monday. A nation-wide protest called by India's main Hindu-nationalist opposition didn't evoke any response in the rest of the country.
Muslim traders say the Kashmir valley was running short of essentials, including fuel and medicine while fruit-growers say their produce bound for markets in Indian cities was rotting.
"We have suffered a loss of at least 20 million rupees since this agitation began," said Mohammad Yousuf, president of Kashmir Fruit Growers Association. "And if the blockade continues it will be a disaster for us."
Police also put top hardline Kashmmiri leaders under house arrest from Sunday evening to stop them from leading the traders.
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