[Onthebarricades] KASHMIR: Human rights and other protests, Dec-Jan 07/08

[Andy]

*  Dozens held in human rights protest in Srinagar
*  Military attack on hostage-takers at mosque prompts protests, shutdown
*  Indian forces shoot at protesters during Srinagar protest over mosque 
incident
*  Protests, roadblocks and clashes over college demand in Srinagar - police 
kill one protester

http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2007/12/10/asia/OUKWD-UK-KASHMIR-PROTEST.php

Dozens held in human rights protest in Kashmir

Reuters
Published: December 10, 2007

SRINAGAR, India: Police detained dozens of people protesting against alleged 
human rights violations by security forces in Indian Kashmir on Monday, 
officials and witnesses said.
Hundreds of members of different Kashmiri separatist groups, many of them 
masked, marched in the capital Srinagar to mark Human Rights Day. The silent 
protesters carried placards that read "Stop human rights violations, stop 
custodial killings."
"The law of the jungle prevails," said Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the chief of the 
region's separatist All Parties Hurriyat (freedom) Conference alliance. 
"They (security forces) kill with impunity."
India denies any systematic abuses in the region and says at least 85 
soldiers, found guilty of human rights violations in Kashmir, had been 
punished since the revolt against Indian rule broke out in the region in 
1989.
But the protesters said atrocities had gone up in the region where the 
insurgency has officially killed more than 42,000 people. Human rights 
activists put the toll at 60,000 dead or missing.
"Atrocities in Kashmir have increased rapidly despite fake slogans by the 
ruling party," Mohammad Yasin Malik, the chairman of Jammu Kashmir 
Liberation Front, wrote to U.N. Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon.
(Reporting by Sheikh Mushtaq; editing by Krittivas Mukherjee)

http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/26/stories/2007122659661200.htm

Local villagers protest against Palnoo mosque siege

Shujaat Bukhari

They say the mosque is damaged and allege atrocities by security forces; 
five photo journalists injured in "attack" by security forces

Complete shutdown observed in the area

DIG claims no major damage to the mosque

AP

The mother of one of the militants killed breaks down as his body is carried 
by local villagers at Palnoo on Tuesday.

SRINAGAR: A day after five civilians were rescued and three militants killed 
in a 35-hour stand-off in Palnoo village of Kulgam district, thousands of 
people on Tuesday staged protest demonstrations in the area against the 
damage caused to the mosque and alleged atrocities by the security forces.

As the midnight offensive launched by 62 Rashtriya Rifles and Jammu and 
Kashmir Police's Special Operations Group ended with the killing of three 
top Hizbul Mujahideen and the safe return of five civilians taken hostage by 
them, the people went on the rampage on learning that the mosque in which 
the militants were hiding had been damaged in the fight. They locals alleged 
that the security forces had "let loose a reign of terror against the 
population."
Roads sealed

A complete shutdown was observed in the area. The authorities, fearing a 
strong reaction, had sealed all the roads leading to Palnoo. The entry 
points from Bijbehara, Yaripora and Balsoo were sealed and the people were 
not even allowed to walk on the road.

As the crowd demanding a "honourable burial" for the militants surged and 
sought to reach Palnoo, it led to a clash with the police. The security 
forces then resorted to lathi-charge and later used tear smoke shells to 
disperse the crowd. Pitched battles continued and at least 15 civilians were 
injured.
Locals' charges

A group of photo-journalists complained that they were prevented by the 
police from discharging their duties and were attacked by the SOG personnel. 
The injured were identified as Tassaduq Rashid, Zahoor Sodagar, Fida 
Hussain, Javed Shah and Basharat Ahmad.

A local, Murtaza Ahmad, said the SOG personnel looted their houses and beat 
up people ruthlessly. Even as the police stopped people from converging, 
many thousands joined the funeral prayers of the militants who were buried 
in the local graveyard.

DIG South Kashmir H.K. Lohia refuted the locals' allegations and said some 
vested interests, including Hurriyat leaders, were trying instigating the 
people. No major damage was caused to the mosque, he said and added that 
that the people should also realise that the militants had kept the 
civilians hostage for two days and made them human shields.

A Hizbul Mujahideen spokesman, in a statement, paid tributes to the slain 
militants.

"They preferred martyrdom to surrender and that speaks about the devotion of 
the Mujahideen to the cause," the statement said.
Hostage account

Two of the hostages who were rescued narrated their ordeal while talking to 
reporters and said that they had a tough time.

Gowhar Ahmad, an MCA student, said he had come out to take food but was not 
allowed by the Army to go back. "They [the Army] announced on the public 
address system that Gowher fainted and cannot return," he said adding that 
another came out saying that he wanted water.

Another young hostage Adil Najar then followed suit. The lighting 
arrangements were then enhanced, after which the forces burst tear gas 
shells into the mosque.

Another hostage, Abdul Ahad Mir, came out and cried "we are civilians please 
do not fire." He said the Army observed restraint on that occasion and did 
not fire.
Incident condemned

Several separatist organisations have condemned the incident. The Harkat 
Jehadi Islami, the Jaish-e-Mohammad and the Al Madinah regiment have in 
their separate statements paid tributes to the slain militants.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iefz9Fk1kXAYyI1lwaflUkHgNpWw

Kashmir protest over mosque siege

Dec 25, 2007

SRINAGAR, India (AFP) - Police fired shots in the air and tear gas at 
thousands of protestors in Indian Kashmir upset over damage to a mosque 
during a raid to free hostages seized by Islamic militants, a witness said.

An AFP photographer who witnessed the demonstration in a village south of 
the state summer capital Srinagar said some of the protestors sustained 
minor injuries during a baton charge by police.

Protestors started moving towards the village mosque when they were stopped 
by police firing in the air, the photographer said.

Three suspected Islamic militants took five people captive on Sunday 
afternoon at a mosque in Kulgam. Three of the hostages escaped before police 
freed the other two on Monday during a raid and subsequent gunbattle in 
which the rebels were killed.

Police said no one was injured in the protest Tuesday in Kashmir, the scene 
of an Islamic militancy waged since 1989 in the Himalayan region that has 
left tens of thousands dead.

"There was some trouble and police had to resort to aerial firing after tear 
gas proved ineffective to bring the situation under control," a police 
officer who asked not to be identified said.

He added that no injuries were reported and disputed protestor claims that 
the mosque had been badly damaged by bullets during the raid.

Militants have often taken shelter in Kashmiri mosques in the past, leaving 
security forces with the dilemma of whether to risk a public backlash in the 
Muslim-majority state by pursuing them.

A standoff at Kashmir's holiest mosque Hazratbal lasted 34 days in 1993, 
ending when rebels were given safe passage without their weapons.

But a two-month siege in 1995 of another Muslim shrine, Chrar-e-Sharief, 
resulted in fierce fighting that killed 17 people and destroyed the holy 
site.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-kashmir_webdec16,1,1390466.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

1 killed at Kashmir protest
The Associated Press
9:14 AM CST, December 15, 2007

SRINAGAR, India - Chanting anti-government slogans, demonstrators torched a 
government bus, a police vehicle and threw rocks at police and paramilitary 
soldiers who tried to disperse them, Ashiq Bukhari, a police officer, told 
The Associated Press.

Police opened fire, killing 20-year-old Zahoor Ahmed and wounding five 
others, he said.

Four policemen were also injured after being kicked and beaten with wooden 
sticks by protesters, who blocked the main highway connecting Srinagar - the 
summer capital of India's Jammu-Kashmir state - to the rest of the country, 
a police officer said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to 
talk to reporters.

The protesters also snatched four rifles from police, the officer said.

The demonstrators were protesting the government decision on Friday 
rejecting their demand to set up a new college in Magam, a town 15 miles 
north of Srinagar.

Clashes between government forces and Kashmiri people are quite common in 
the Indian portion of Kashmir.

Rejecting Indian rule over Kashmir, nearly a dozen rebel groups have been 
fighting for Kashmir's independence from India or its merger with 
neighboring Pakistan since 1989. More than 68,000 people, mostly civilians, 
have been killed in the conflict.

The Himalayan territory is divided between India and Pakistan and both claim 
it all. They have fought two wars over its control since they won 
independence from Britain in 1947.

AP-CS-12-15-07 0715EST