SRINAGAR, India - Government forces fired on anti-India protesters in Kashmir on Saturday morning, killing a teenage student on the second day of violent clashes in the disputed Himalayan region, police said.
The protesters, hurling rocks and shouting slogans, gathered in the western village of Narbal as shops, businesses and public transportation across the region shut down for a strike called by separatists challenging India's sovereignty in Kashmir, police said.
Troops fired on the demonstrators, killing the boy, police inspector general Syed Javaid Mujtaba Gillani said. News of his death drew hundreds more angry villagers to join the protests as troops tried to disperse them with tear gas.
Separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani called the strike a day after Indian authorities arrested another separatist leader, Masarat Alam, for leading an anti-India march and raising pro-Pakistan slogans.
Alam's arrest - just weeks after his release from five years in prison on the same charge - sparked violent clashes Friday between protesters and law enforcement officials that left 20 police personnel and five protesters injured.
Kashmir is divided between neighboring India and Pakistan, and pro-Pakistan slogans are nothing new within the mostly Muslim region where most people mistrust Indian rule. Since an insurgency erupted in 1989, several militant groups in Kashmir have been demanding the region be given full independence or merged with Pakistan.
An estimated 68,000 people have died in the fighting and ensuing crackdown by Indian forces. With the insurgency largely suppressed, anti-India sentiment is now mostly expressed through street demonstrations.
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The protesters, hurling rocks and shouting slogans, gathered in the western village of Narbal as shops, businesses and public transportation across the region shut down for a strike called by separatists challenging India's sovereignty in Kashmir, police said.
Troops fired on the demonstrators, killing the boy, police inspector general Syed Javaid Mujtaba Gillani said. News of his death drew hundreds more angry villagers to join the protests as troops tried to disperse them with tear gas.
Separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani called the strike a day after Indian authorities arrested another separatist leader, Masarat Alam, for leading an anti-India march and raising pro-Pakistan slogans.
Alam's arrest - just weeks after his release from five years in prison on the same charge - sparked violent clashes Friday between protesters and law enforcement officials that left 20 police personnel and five protesters injured.
Kashmir is divided between neighboring India and Pakistan, and pro-Pakistan slogans are nothing new within the mostly Muslim region where most people mistrust Indian rule. Since an insurgency erupted in 1989, several militant groups in Kashmir have been demanding the region be given full independence or merged with Pakistan.
An estimated 68,000 people have died in the fighting and ensuing crackdown by Indian forces. With the insurgency largely suppressed, anti-India sentiment is now mostly expressed through street demonstrations.
Like Us On Facebook | Follow Us On Twitter | Contact HuffPost India
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