Kashmir Valley braces for separatist protests
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Srinagar: Thousands of police deployed across areas of Indian Kashmir on Friday ahead of protests called by Muslim separatists in the region.
A separatist committee spearheading recent demonstrations has called on people in the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley to take to the streets after midday prayers.
Last Friday, thousands of Muslims held sit-in protests against Indian rule outside mosques in the summer capital Srinagar and other towns.
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"We have deployed police and CRPF (riot police) personnel in good numbers in all the sensitive places," police official Pervez Ahmed said.
Residents said riot police were also deployed around the main mosque in Srinagar and another major shrine.
More than 30 protesters have been shot dead by security forces and 1,200 people injured in protests sparked by a state government plan, made public in June, to grant land to a Hindu pilgrim trust.
The protests re-ignited the separatist struggle in Indian Kashmir, where a two-decade-old insurgency has claimed more than 43,000 lives.
In the latest incident, Indian troops shot dead three Muslim militants during an early morning gunbattle in the southern district of Kishtiwar on Friday, army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel S.D. Goswami told AFP.
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