Protests go on in Kashmir, army urges calm

Protests go on in Kashmir, army urges calm

SRINAGAR, India (REUTERS): The Indian army appealed on Sunday
for an end to violence in Kashmir as authorities imposed a curfew
for the third day running amid continuing street protests in the
disputed state.

Stone-throwing youths clashed with police in several parts of
Kashmir's main city as protests sparked by Thursday's killing of
civilians by security forces simmered on.

At least four areas of summer capital Srinagar were placed
under curfew, authorities said.

"Reiterating our sincere condolences to the bereaved families
and regrets over these unfortunate incidents, I fervently appeal
to the people of Kashmir to abjure this agitation and violence,"
Lt. Gen. J.R. Mukherjee, the commander of India's army in
Kashmir, told a news conference.

Four people were killed and 17 wounded on Thursday when
soldiers escorting a military convoy fired at an angry crowd at
Haigam, where residents were protesting against the detention and
killing of another villager earlier in the week.

Another person was killed on Friday in Srinagar when a
security official opened fire on an angry crowd protesting
against the Haigam killings. Police say the officer acted in
panic.

About 25 people, many of them policemen, were injured on
Saturday as stone-pelting protesters clashed with security forces
in the third successive day of protests.

Last week's violence came on top of a series of guerrilla
attacks by hard-line groups that rejected New Delhi's unilateral
ceasefire against Kashmiri separatists aimed at reviving peace
talks.

India's cabinet committee on security was scheduled to meet
later on Sunday to review the ceasefire, which has been extended
twice after being launched last November to coincide with the
Muslim holy month of Ramadhan.

The ceasefire is due to expire on Feb. 26.
"We must make all out efforts jointly to give the peace process a
chance to succeed and join hands to counter those who, we are all
well aware, are instigating violence in a bid to derail the peace
process," Mukherjee said.

"On our part, I give you my solemn word that those of my men
who are blameworthy will be brought to book and be dealt with
according to the law," he added.

The state government of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday ordered a
judicial probe into the killings.

More than 30,000 people have been killed in a 11-year-old
revolt against Indian rule in the state, the only Muslim majority
province in mainly Hindu India.

In a new development, a group of leading Pakistani Kashmiris
said on Sunday they planned to attend an unprecedented peace
meeting in Indian-ruled Kashmir of politicians from both sides of
the disputed Himalayan region.

The Pakistani Kashmiris said more than 60 politicians and
intellectuals from the Pakistani side had been invited to a March
17-18 conference in Jammu being organized by former Kashmir state
chief minister Ghulam Mohammad Shah.

Amanullah Khan, chairman of the pro-independence Jammu and
Kashmir Liberation Front, who is coordinating the planned trip,
told Reuters he thought Indian authorities had assured Shah there
would be no "undue hurdles" to the meeting.

Khan said the meeting was designed to work out a formula to
solve the 53-year-old Kashmir dispute, the cause of two of three
wars between India and Pakistan and an 11-year-old revolt in
Indian Kashmir that has left at least 30,000 people dead.