Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Curfew enforced in Kashmir towns

A curfew is being strictly enforced in parts of Indian-administered Kashmir after a wave of violence between protesters and police over the past month.
Police and paramilitaries have been deployed in the capital Srinagar where three civilians died in police firing on Tuesday.
Anantnag, Pulwana and Kakapora towns are also under curfew.
At least 14 civilians have died in clashes with forces since June.
Many of the deaths have been blamed on the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
Restricted
Life in Srinagar has come to a standstill, and movement of people has been restricted in other affected towns, says the BBC's Altaf Hussain in Srinagar.
Our correspondent says that the curfew in Anantnag has now been in place for eight consecutive days - since three people were killed by police there last week - and there is no sign of the tension diminishing.
A police spokesman said the authorities have decided to deploy the army in some sensitive areas, but no soldiers are out on the streets yet.
Most of the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley has either been under a curfew or shut down for the past few weeks because of protests over the killing of civilians by the police and paramilitary forces.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has defended the security forces, saying they could not be expected constantly to show restraint when they were so often pelted with stones.
The killings of civilian protesters, most of them teenagers, have angered many in the valley.
One newspaper headline described 2010 as the "year of teenage killings" in Kashmir.
Even the pro-India People's Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the government of declaring war on its own people, our correspondent reports.
Hundreds of thousands of troops are based in Kashmir to fight a two-decade insurgency against Indian rule.

No comments:

Post a Comment