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Strike paralyzes Kashmir amid tensions

Press TV – April 9, 2011

The people of Indian-administered Kashmir have gone on a complete shutdown strike in response to the killing of a Muslim cleric in the Himalayan valley.

The strike paralyzed much of the region as most shops, businesses, schools and offices in Srinagar and other major towns were closed on Saturday, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The strikes are in protest at the killing of Muslim cleric Moulavi Shoukat Ahmad Shah on Friday. He was killed and several others were injured in a powerful explosion outside a mosque in Srinagar.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. However, a Pakistan-based Kashmir group has blamed it on “Indian agencies.”

The prominent leader was a well-known supporter of the separatist movement, which wants independence from India.

The region’s influential separatist politicians have described the killing as an “attack on the Kashmiri freedom movement.”

“It’s nothing but a conspiracy to deprive us of our religious and political leaders,” said a Muslim cleric and an influential moderate separatist Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.

“The killing has broken our back. We will expose those responsible,” said Yaseen Malik, head of the pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front.

Kashmiri protesters chanted anti-Indian slogans and threw stones during clashes with Indian troops in several towns across the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley over the past 24 hours. This comes as there have been almost daily demonstrations against Indian rule in the region since June 2010, when security forces killed a teenage protester.

Since then violent street protests and crackdowns have left more than 110 people dead.

Kashmir lies at the heart of more than 60 years of hostility between India and Pakistan. Both countries claim the region in full but have partial control over it.

Political analysts say the frequent street protests of the past two years are giving new life to the Kashmir liberation struggle.

New Delhi has been repeatedly criticized for resorting to force rather than finding a diplomatic solution to the dispute.

The conflict in Kashmir has left tens of thousands of people dead over the past two decades.

April 9, 2011 - Posted by | Solidarity and Activism, Subjugation - Torture

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