Pro-independence protests in Indian Kashmir

 2008-09-12 13:32:01 - SRINAGAR, India (AP) - Tens of thousands of Muslim protesters gathered for pro-independence rallies across Indian-controlled Kashmir on Friday, leading to scattered clashes with police that left at least one dead and dozens injured. Separatist leaders called for Muslims across the restive Himalayan region to protest Indian rule after Friday prayers, but police officials clamped down on the demonstrations because they violated an order barring the assembly of more than five people, said senior police official B. Srinivas. He said they had to use tear gas and batons and, in at least one town, live ammunition to disperse the crowds.  In Shopian, a town town about 40 miles (60 kilometers) south of Srinagar, the region's biggest city, one protester was killed and 13 injured after police opened fire on protesters, according to doctors and police officials. Mohammed Yousuf, a doctor in Shopian's main hospital, said seven of the injured were in critical condition. In Srinagar, a prominent separatist leader, Mohammed Yasin Malik, was injured after police swung batons and fired tear gas at the crowd, said Altaf Khan, a spokesman for Malik's group, the Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front. It was not immediately clear how Malik was injured, but he was rushed to a hospital where he was being examined, said Wasim Qureshi, the medical superint of Sri Maharaja Harish Singh in Srinagar. Dozens of others also sustained injuries, Khan said.  The protests were organized by several prominent separatist leaders, including Malik, who spearheaded two months of angry demonstrations this summer that were some of the biggest anti-India protests in decades. The unrest left at least 43 people dead in Indian-controlled Kashmir, most of them killed when soldiers opened fire on Muslim protesters.  Kashmir has been divided between Hindu-majority India and predominantly Muslim Pakistan since 1947 when the two fought their first war over the region in the aftermath of Britain's bloody partition of the subcontinent. Both countries continue to claim Kashmir in its entirety.  Separatist movements in Indian Kashmir remained peaceful until 1989, when Islamic insurgents took up arms hoping to win independence for the territory or have it merged with Pakistan.  The fighting has killed an estimated 68,000 people. Until the recent unrest, violence had ebbed considerably since India and Pakistan began a peace process in 2004. The longtime rivals have yet to achieve a breakthrough in their efforts to settle the Kashmir dispute.