World | India
Students join Kashmir march
Thousands of Muslims, including students, marched through the main city of Indian Kashmir yesterday to press their demands for independence from India.
- AP
- Published: 23:42 August 21, 2008
Srinagar: Thousands of Muslims, including students, marched through the main city of Indian Kashmir yesterday to press their demands for independence from India.
The demonstration, which came after several days of relative calm, were small compared to the massive protests that have rocked the state over the last two months. At least 34 people have been killed in the unrest.
Students waved pro-independence signs as they marched through the main business district of Srinagar chanting "Burn the Indian institutions" and "It has come, it has come, freedom, freedom." A group of protesters raised an Islamic green flag at the clock tower in the city's main bazaar.
Police and paramilitary forces kept their distance from the protesters and no violence was reported.
The demonstration came during a planned three-day break in the protests that separatist leaders said they would spend charting a future course. They have announced plans for a massive rally and strike for today.
Meanwhile, Hindu protesters attacked the vehicle carrying a top elected official in Jammu, a predominantly Hindu city that has been the site of large demonstrations, according to a news agency.
Mangat Ram Sharma, who escaped unharmed, has been attacked twice before in recent weeks because of his senior role in the unpopular state government.
The recent unrest has reinvigorated the region's decades-long separatist struggle. The protests represent the biggest challenge to Indian rule over its only Muslim-majority state since the start of a violent insurgency in 1989 that has killed an estimated 68,000 people.
The crisis began in June with a dispute over land near a Hindu shrine. Muslims held protests complaining that a state government plans to transfer 40 hectares to a Hindu trust to build facilities for pilgrims near the shrine was actually a settlement plan meant to alter the region's religious balance.
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