Eid protests hit Indian Kashmir

SRINAGAR, India, Sept 11 AFP Prayers to mark the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan turned into anti-India demonstrations and rallies Saturday in Kashmir which has been racked by weeks of unrest.

Tens of thousands of Muslims, mostly young men, chanted, “Go India, go back!” and “We want freedom!” after they assembled in the main city of Srinagar to offer prayers on the festival of Eid al-Fitr.Government forces have been battling to contain three months of violent demonstrations in the mainly Muslim region by Kashmiris that were ignited by the killing of a 17-year-old student by police on June 11.

A total of 70 protesters and bystanders some just children have been killed, mostly by security forces who have used live ammunition to disperse demonstrators after being pelted with stones. “The protests are a form of referendum showing that Kashmiris want freedom from India,” leading separatist and key Islamic cleric Umar Farooq told AFP.

Kashmir is in the grip of a 20-year old insurgency against Indian rule that has left more than 47,000 people dead.

At a prayer ground grounds in Srinagar, tens of thousands attended Eid prayers, where Farooq asked people to march to the city’s historic and business centre of Lal Chowk.

After the Eid prayers ended, the worshippers marched towards Lal Chowk, where protesters hoisted green Islamic flags atop a clock tower shouting slogans such as: “Blood for blood.”Riot police were deployed across Srinagar in a bid to keep a lid on tensions and security forces fired shots in air in a bid to disperse the protesters.

Farooq read names of the 70 people killed in the unrest in an emotional speech ahead of the prayers that sparked shouts like: “Indians leave our Kashmir.”

Muslims rode motorbikes, cars, buses and jeeps emblazoned with green Islamic flags to join the protests.

Another leading separatist, Yasin Malik, urged the demonstrators to be peaceful.

“India should read this writing on the wall and take steps to resolve this lingering dispute forever,” Malik said as five Kashmiris built a human pyramid in a bid to scale a high electric pole and hoist an Islamic flag.