SRINAGAR: Government troops fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse Muslim protesters throwing rocks and chanting anti-India slogans in Kashmir’s main city on Saturday. Several people were injured in the clash, police said. Hundreds of angry protesters spilled onto the streets in Srinagar’s Nowhatta district to demand an end to Indian rule in the disputed Himalayan region, said Prabhakar Tripathi, a spokesman for the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force.

Some protesters threw rocks at troops who were trying to disperse the rowdy crowd, and the forces retaliated with tear gas and rubber bullets, Tripathi said. He said several protesters and troops were injured but was unable to say how many. Meanwhile, a separatist-called general strike Saturday paralyzed life across much of Indian-controlled Kashmir, closing down shops, businesses and schools.

The strike was called by the Jammu-Kashmir Coordination Committee, which includes Muslim separatist leaders and representatives of businesses, lawyers and government employees. Anti-India sentiment runs deep in Indian-administered Kashmir, where most people favor independence from mainly Hindu India, or a merger with predominantly Muslim Pakistan.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, which have fought two of their three wars over the region. In recent months, the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir has seen some of the largest protests against Indian rule in two decades. Although they had subsided in recent weeks, separatist leaders have launched new protests during the current Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Mirwaiz Omer Farooq, a key separatist leader, said government troops have been using force to quell popular protests, although he did not comment specifically on Saturday’s clashes.`This is a peaceful uprising but India is not giving the people any space for peaceful protests,” Farooq said.

On Friday, thousands of people took to the streets after prayers in the Muslim-majority region. The rallies led to scattered clashes which injured 19 police and paramilitary soldiers and 11 protesters, police said in a statement. Separatist groups have been fighting since 1989 to end Indian rule, leaving an estimated 68,000 people dead. At least 45 people have died in the recent violence, most of them killed when soldiers opened fire on Muslim protesters.-SANA

SRINAGAR: Hundreds of Kashmiris arrested since the armed uprising in the state of Jammu and Kashmir are detained for protracted period without trial by government agencies, disregarding the court orders quashing their detention under the infamous Public Safety Act. Advocate Mir Shafqat Hussain who is counselling on behalf of about 200 detainees languishing in different jails in and outside the state told Rising Kashmir that court orders undoing their detention are thrown to winds by the executive. Read the full story

SRINAGAR: The CRPF troopers beat up and wounded several women and more than 12 teenagers in the small hamlet of Qazigund in occupied Kashmir, during the strict curfew last week after the villagers refused to sing “Jai Mata Di (Long live Mata (Indian goddess)” “Vanday Mataram (I bow before thee o motherland),” and the Indian national anthem. Not to be quoted by their names was the first request of the villagers, as they feared further reprisals. The villagers said they are “being terrorized” for participating in pro-independence marches. Read the full story

NEW DELHI : India has slammed the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) for its statement on Jammu and Kashmir, describing it as “uncalled for and irresponsible,” and asserting that India did not need any advice regarding protection of human rights of its citizens. “We regret that the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has issued a statement on the situation in J and K. This is uncalled for and irresponsible. India does not need any advice in respect of the protection and promotion of the human rights of its citizens,” External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said in response to a question. Read the full story

SRINAGAR: Indian troops have cracked down on pro-liberation leaders and launched a manhunt throughout occupied Kashmir valley to nab the stone pelters. Senior Tehreek-e-Hurriyat leader Tariq Maulvi was arrested while police raided the house of another resistance leader Yousuf Mujahid. However, Mujahid expecting a raid had already gone into hiding. Read the full story

SRINAGAR: The martyrdom of senior Huriyat leader, Sheikh Abdul Aziz has been widely condemned. Both factions of Huriyat Conference, JKLF and other liberation organisations have strongly condemned the killing of Sheikh Aziz. They have termed his killing as worst form of “state terrorism”. In a telephonic statement to Jammu based news agency, NAK, Lashkar-e-Toiba Spokesman Dr Abdullah Gaznavi quoting Lashkar Chief having said that India can not suppress the Kashmiris with use of force. Read the full story

SRINAGAR: The hospitals in occupied Kashmir valley, which received hundreds of people injured in police firing are facing acute crisis and almost all are running short of essential equipments, medicines and blood. At least four persons were killed and over 300 injured in police action on the processions which were heading to cross the Line of Control to protest the blockade of Srinagar-Jammu highway by the rightwing parties. Read the full story

LONDON: Use of force by the state police on protesters in Srinagar is a heinous act of brutality by the Indian and the State government authorities. .Use of force against Mr Ali Geelani and house arrest of Mr Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Nayeem Khan and other Kashmiri political leaders is a condemnable act. The actual face of Indian democracy can be seen from the recent incidents in Srinagar this was stated by Dr Misfar Hassan Secretary General Jammu Kashmir Liberation League in a press statement. Read the full story