Srinagar, September 15: Police in Indian Kashmir shot dead two protesters and wounded several others on Wednesday when they opened fire at the latest violent demonstration in the region.
Officers fired at a separatist rally in the southern town of Mendhar, a Muslim settlement in the Hindu-dominated Jammu region, about 450 kilometres (280 miles) from the summer capital Srinagar.
“The security forces had to open fire when protesters turned violent,” a police officer said, declining to give his name. “Two people have died. They opened fire only after tear-gas shelling and a cane (baton) charge failed.”
Protestors in Indian Kashmir set fire to two government buildings overnight in trouble-hit towns of the disputed region amid isolated skirmishes with security forces, police said.
Residents also began to complain they were running low on food as thousands of heavily armed police imposed a strict curfew for the fourth day that has prevented anyone from leaving their homes.
“The situation during the last night remained peaceful barring a couple of incidents of arson in Sopore and Handwara,” a police statement said, referring to two northern towns.
In Handwara, hundreds of protesters chanting, “Down With India!” and “Allah Is Great!” torched a municipal committee office, while in Sopore protesters attacked and tried to set fire to a revenue office, causing some damage.
Thousands of Indian police and paramilitaries patrolled streets of Kashmir Wednesday to enforce the curfew, which was first imposed on Sunday during serious clashes and arson attacks in the main town of Srinagar.
“The curfew has been in force for more than 72 hours now and we have no milk or bread left,” one housewife, Shaheen Amin said.
Ajaz Rasool, a retired government official, criticised the government for not relaxing the restrictions.
“You can’t starve the entire population. They are trying to give us collective punishment,” he said from a besieged downtown locality.
The round-the-clock indefinite curfew is in force across all the towns and sensitive roadside villages in the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley.
On Monday, the Muslim-majority region suffered its bloodiest day in three months of unrest, with 17 people killed in police shootings, including a woman bystander, a mother of five. One police officer also died in mob violence.
On Tuesday, 30 people, including 12 policemen, were wounded in separate clashes across the region.
Three of the injured protesters were in critical condition.
Furious protests have erupted almost daily in Kashmir since a teenage student was killed by a police teargas shell in Srinagar on June 11.
A total 88 civilians have died, according to a tally, mostly in shooting by security forces.
In New Delhi, India’s leading political parties met to try to forge a consensus on how to defuse the escalating tension.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who admitted last week that he was “groping” for a response, will chair the all-party meeting, with the government under pressure to show leadership in the worsening crisis.
Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan but claimed in full by both. Since 1989, an anti-India insurgency has raged in the part ruled by New Delhi, claiming an estimated 47,000 lives.
A majority of Kashmiris favour independence for the region, according to polls.
-Agencies