Separatists start 5-day strike in Indian Kashmir
Most shops, businesses and schools were closed and streets were deserted in the Indian portion of Kashmir on Monday as separatists opposed to Indian rule called for five days of strikes and demonstrations.
Thousands of armed police and paramilitary soldiers on patrol asked residents to stay indoors in major towns to prevent protests. For the past six weeks, street violence sparked by the deaths of several protesters in apparent shootings by the security forces has roiled the mostly Muslim region, where resistance to rule by predominantly Hindu India is strong. On Sunday, schools, shops and businesses opened despite a public holiday after separatists called for a day’s break in weeks of intermittent strike action. Tens of thousands of shoppers flooded markets to stockpile supplies. However, protests erupted late Sunday after residents blamed police for the deaths of another two Kashmiris. Residents said the body of Farooq Ahmed Bhat, 35, who had been missing from his home in Srinagar for five days, was found in a stream. They alleged that the police killed him for taking part in anti-India protests. A police officer said that Bhat, a former militant, might have died of drowning and an investigation was under way. The officer spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak with the media. Another man, Tariq Ahmed was found dead on Sunday in a police cell in Panzalla, a village 70 km north of Srinagar. Residents accused the police of torturing Ahmed to death. The police officer said Ahmed was arrested recently on charges of helping militants and that he committed suicide in custody. The region has been under a rolling curfew in recent weeks as residents accuse government forces of killing at least 17 people, mostly teenagers, in the demonstrations.
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