Emeutes à Shopian (Kashmir) juin 2009
80 hurt in protests over women’s deaths in Kashmir
By Izhar Wani – 3 juin 2009
SRINAGAR, India (AFP) — More than 80 people were hurt Wednesday as police in Indian Kashmir battled demonstrators protesting against the alleged rape and murder of two women by security forces, police said.
The violence marked the third day of clashes in the Muslim-majority Himalayan region where Indian security forces have been fighting a two-decade-old insurgency against New Delhi’s rule.
« Over 80 people were hurt in battles, including nine policemen, » a police officer told AFP, asking for anonymity.
« The situation is tense and we’re deploying more police and paramilitary to control the violence, » he said.
The clashes coincided with the third day of a strike over the deaths of the women that preliminary investigations suggested appeared to have been caused by drowning rather than foul play, according to Indian officials.
Police said they were probing the deaths of the 17-year-old woman and her 22-year-old sister-in-law, whose bodies were found in a shallow stream last Saturday near the southern town of Shopian.
Their families have accused Indian security forces of abducting, raping and killing the women.
Police fought running battles with demonstrators in the streets of Srinagar and other communities in the Kashmir valley. Police hurled tear gas and in one instance in Srinagar opened fire on demonstrators, the police officer said.
One person was in serious condition after suffering a bullet wound, a doctor at Srinagar’s main hospital said.
The strike caused major disruption to life in the Kashmir valley where separatist sentiment is strongest, closing shops, schools, banks and offices.
Thousands of residents in Shopian, where the women’s bodies were found, shouted « We want freedom » and « Allah is great. »
Police have installed barbed wire fences around some neighbourhoods in Srinagar and in Shopian, prompting complaints from residents that their movements were severely restricted.
« We’re facing a curfew-like situation as the troops are not allowing us to move out of our homes, » said Shabir Hakak, a Srinagar resident.
The barbed wire was a measure to prevent protests from erupting into violence, police said.
« We’re restricting civilian movement to prevent violence, » police officer Pervez Ahmed said as police struggled to control a clutch of protesters who had emerged from their houses to burn an effigy of Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah.
A judicial investigation into the deaths has been ordered by Abdullah, but it has failed to cool tempers.
Kashmir’s separatist political leadership remained Wednesday under house arrest, which was imposed last Saturday.
Police said they had shifted one of the fiercest opponents of Indian rule, Syed Ali Geelani, to an undisclosed place.
Since Saturday, a total of over 230 people have been injured in clashes.
In massive anti-India protests last year, over 50 demonstrators died in battles with police.
The two-decade insurgency has left more than 47,000 people dead, according to official figures
Cinquième jour d’émeutes au Cachemire
http://www.lejdd.fr
03/06/2009
Policiers et manifestants se sont de nouveau affrontés mercredi dans la région indienne du Cachemire, faisant 35 blessés dans le rang des forces de l’ordre. Les émeutiers protestent contre le viol et le meurtre présumé de deux musulmanes par les forces de sécurité, vendredi, dans la ville de Shoplan. Les autorités démentent les faits, affirmant que les victimes se seraient noyées dans un torrent. Le Premier ministre de l’État, Omar Abduallah a annoncé l’ouverture d’une enquête, mais les séparatistes du Conseil du djihad unifié en contestent d’avance les conclusions.
Fresh protests in Kashmir over women’s deaths
Wed Jun 3, 2009
By Sheikh Mushtaq
SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) – At least 35 people were injured after police and demonstrators clashed in Kashmir for the fifth day on Wednesday in protests over the rape and murder of two Muslim women, hospitals and witnesses said.
Police fired tear gas shells and used batons to disperse angry residents who burnt the effigy of the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah. Protesters also burnt tyres and threw stones at police, police said.
Shops, businesses and schools were shut across the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley in response to a strike call by separatists to protest the deaths.
Near daily street protests since last year are giving new life to a separatist movement in the disputed Himalayan region.
Residents said the two women, aged 17 and 22, were abducted, raped and killed by security forces on Friday in Shopian town, 60 km (37 miles) south of Srinagar, Kashmir’s summer capital.
Indian authorities denied the killings and say the women drowned in a stream. Abdullah earlier this week ordered a judicial inquiry into the deaths, which separatists rejected.
A Pakistan-based alliance of Kashmiri militant groups, United Jehad Council (UJC), condemned the deaths.
« Security forces are using rape as a war weapon to muzzle the voice of Kashmiris and the Shopian incident is one more attempt to intimidate us, » Syed Salahuddin, UJC chief, said in a statement.
In Srinagar, police and soldiers armed with assault rifles blocked off lanes and sealed off residential areas with razor wire and iron barricades to thwart more protests, witnesses said.
Indian security forces fighting separatist militants in Jammu and Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state, have been accused in the past of human rights violations, including rape and extrajudicial killings.
Authorities deny any systematic violations and say all reports are investigated and the guilty punished.
Officials say more than 47,000 people have been killed since simmering discontent against Indian rule turned into a full-blown rebellion in 1989. Separatists put the toll at 100,000.
Deaths provoke Kashmir protests
1 juin 2009
Violent protests are continuing across Indian-administered Kashmir, following the deaths of two women who many believe were raped by Indian troops.
The bodies of the two women were recovered on Saturday morning after they went missing on Friday.
A general strike called by separatist groups in response to the deaths of the women brought life in the Kashmir valley to a standstill.
The government has ordered a judicial probe into the deaths.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said an inquiry had become necessary because of the people’s lack of faith in police investigations.
« Initial findings do not suggest either rape or murder. But there is a need to establish beyond doubt so that people are satisfied as far as possible.
« Most of the valley is shut down. People want truth and they want it from a credible source, » he said.
A retired high court judge, Justice Muzaffar Jan, has been given one month to complete the inquiry.
Action demanded
The incident has sent shockwaves throughout the Kashmir valley in recent days. The separatist call for a strike was met with an overwhelming response as shops closed and traffic was suspended.
Daily demonstrations have paralysed the town of Shopian, where the women were from, as local residents demanded action from security forces.
The authorities have also imposed an undeclared curfew in the southern district of Shopian and police and paramilitaries have been deployed across the area.
The two women, who were sisters-in-law, went missing on the way home from their orchard on Friday. Their bodies were found the next morning, one in a canal and one on open ground about 1km (0.6 mile) away.
The results of the post-mortem report have not yet been made public.
On Saturday thousands of people marched in procession to the main square in Shopian town where they ransacked the local hospital in which the post-mortem had been performed.
The demonstrators allege that the women were gang-raped and subsequently killed by Indian security forces.
Local police reject the allegations saying that the women appeared to have drowned in a stream, the Associated Press news agency says.
Over 40 injured in protests over Kashmir deaths
31 mai 2009
SRINAGAR, India (AFP) — More than 40 people have been wounded in two days of clashes between Indian police and Kashmiris demonstrating over the recent deaths of two young Muslim women, police said Sunday.
Police said they have launched an investigation into the « mystery deaths » of the women, aged 17 and 22. Their families have accused Indian security forces of abducting, raping and subsequently killing them.
Angry demonstrators on Sunday hurled stones at riot police and paramilitary forces, who retaliated by firing teargas shells and charging at them with batons.
« Over 40 people, including several policemen, have been wounded in two days of clashes between police and protesters, » a Muslim police officer said, requesting not to be named.
Protesters ransacked a government hospital and a number of other government buildings after the bodies of the women, who were related, were found on Saturday.
They were fished out from a shallow stream in Shopian town about 50 kilometres (31 miles) south of the summer capital Srinagar.
Their families said the bodies had marks of violence and their clothes were torn.
An autopsy report will be available on Monday, a police statement said.
Indian security forces battling militancy in Kashmir have frequently been accused of committing human rights violations in the scenic Himalayan region. Officials say they investigate all the cases and punish those found guilty.
Kashmir is in the grip of a nearly 20-year insurgency against Indian rule that has so far left more than 47,000 people dead by official count.
The region is ruled in part by Pakistan and India but claimed in full by both.
Senior Kashmir minister Ali Sagar said those involved in the two women’s killings will be « given exemplary punishment. »
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