Indian-administered Kashmir braced itself for a violent backlash yesterday after police shot dead a separatist leader as he headed a large proindependence march.

Sheikh Abdul Aziz, a member of the Hurriyat Conference, an influential coalition of separatist parties, was killed as about 100,000 Muslim Kashmiris made an unprecedented attempt to breach the border that splits the fiercely contested region between India and Pakistan.

His funeral, which is expected today, looks set to inflame some of the worst violence to hit the troubled region since the eruption of an all-out insurgency in 1989 and is likely to fan a resurgent Islamic separatist movement across the Kashmir Valley.

Sheikh Aziz was widely considered a moderate among the separatist ranks and his death may set the stage for more extreme leaders to hold sway. “We will spill blood for blood,” Sheikh Aziz’s supporters chanted as they carried his body out of hospital. Srinagar, the state’s Muslim-dominated summer capital, which as recently as May was enjoying its best tourist trade in two decades, was immediately placed under military curfew.

Mohammad Yaseen Malik, the chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, told The Times: “The people are being pushed towards a revolution. The Indian Government is not serious about resolving the Kashmir issue.”

Police said that three others were killed and about 200 injured as security forces used teargas and fired shots at protesters as they made their way to within about 25 miles of one of the most volatile and closely guarded frontiers in the world. Tensions were further raised by reports of firing on Indian border positions from Pakistani-controlled Kashmir.

Riots and running battles with police in Indian Kashmir have claimed 16 lives over the past two months. Sheikk Aziz died after a bullet ruptured his liver, according to Manzoor Ahmed, the doctor who treated him. There was widespread resentment that the curfew prevented his funeral last night.

Yesterday’s violence came after fruit growers in the region moved to break a virtual siege on the Muslim-dominated Kashmir Valley by Hindu extremists, who have blocked the only highway to the area. The growers were joined by masses of protesters — including women and children — in an attempt to reach markets in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan, via a route that has been closed since Partition in 1947.

The Indian and Pakistani governments have outlined a plan for trade to be resumed across the border that runs through Kashmir, but have yet to implement it. Reinstatement of economic ties across the divide is a key aim of separatist leaders, who see it as a step towards the reunification of Kashmir and, ultimately, of independence.

In Chehel, about 28 miles from the Pakistan border, where Sheikh Aziz was shot, large crowds pushed aside barricades and clashed with security forces. One other marcher was reported to have received bullet wounds there. Two security-force armoured cars were burnt out in the nearby town of Baramullah, where there were riots by thousands who chanted: “Freedom for Kashmir”. In Srinagar there were running battles between Muslim mobs hurling pieces of brick at police who retaliated with teargas.

In Chakothi, a town on Pakistan’s side of the border, police fired teargas to disperse a group attempting to march to the frontier. Yesterday’s march was co-ordinated by groups from both sides of the border. Those from Pakistan-controlled Kashmir had said that they planned to bring emergency medical supplies to their Indian peers.

Those injured in the march in Indian-controlled Kashmir were taken to hospitals that doctors say are now running dangerously low of medicines after the blockade. The head of pharmaceutical supplies at Srinagar’s main hospital said that supplies of drugs such as dopamine and adrenalin, used to treat trauma victims, were critical. “We do not have a single ampoule remaining in the central store; on the wards there are some, but the situation is dangerous,” Akram Sidiqui said.

The current troubles began in mid-June. The state government rescinded a decision to give about 100 acres of forest land to Amarnath — a Hindu cave shrine that hosts a revered stalagmite — to build shelters for pilgrims. The move, which followed violent demonstrations from Kashmir’s Muslim majority, triggered counterprotests from Hindus. Tarun Vijay, a right-wing Hindu commentator, said: “The whole issue was created by [Muslim] separatist leaders who would like to stop the Hindu pilgrimage. The real motive is a complete Islamisation of the valley.”

The fight for independence by Kashmiri Islamic groups has claimed more than 40,000 lives over the past 19 years, according to the Indian Army. Separatists put the toll at more than double that figure.

Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, the Hurriyat Conference chief, said: “The people of Kashmir will not sit still over the death of our leaders. If a leader like Sheik Abdul Aziz is not safe, what about the common man?”

Battle line

January 1948 India and Pakistan go to war over Kashmir, eventually withdrawing behind a ceasefire line, later called the line of control

August 5, 1965 War breaks out again, but ultimately the two sides agree to respect the line of control

1989 Muslim insurgents begin a guerrilla war against Indian control

2003 Atal Behari Vajpayee, the Indian Prime Minister, speaks at a rally in Kashmir, after which full diplomatic relations are agreed

July 2008 Ceasefire violated as troops engage in 16-hour battle

Source: Times database

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