Kashmiri land protests continue

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/south_asia/7480951.stm

Version 0 of 1.

Thousands of people have protested in Indian-administered Kashmir for an eighth successive day over plans to transfer land to a Hindu shrine trust.

The area's Muslim majority continued to demonstrate even though the state government has said it will revoke its decision to transfer the land.

In protest, the state's Hindu-majority Jammu region is also witnessing a strike with crowds out on the streets.

Four people have died and hundreds have been injured since the protests began.

The demonstrations are among the biggest the disputed Himalayan region has seen for years, and have widened to focus on pro-independence demands.

Strikes

In the predominantly Muslim Kashmir valley shops, banks, schools, colleges and government offices are closed and traffic is off the roads, the BBC's Altaf Hussein in Srinagar says.

Police fired tear gas to disperse protesters in the border town of Baramullah.

In Srinagar, prominent separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani led a huge procession in the old city.

The land row has communally polarised Jammu and Kashmir

The Hindu-majority towns in the Jammu region are also observing a strike called by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Hundreds of protesters from the BJP and hard-line Hindu groups like the Shiv Sena and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP, World Hindu Council) denounced Kashmir's Governor NN Vohra and Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.

They accused them of "bowing to the dictates of Muslim fundamentalists".

The BBC's Binoo Joshi in Jammu says businesses are closed and public transport is off the roads. Few people turned up for work.

'Conspiracy'

On Sunday, the state government said it would revoke plans to transfer the land to the Amarnath shrine board.

It said it will provide all the necessary facilities for pilgrims who wanted to visit the shrine.

The government had said the land was needed for the construction of pre-fabricated huts and toilets for the pilgrims.

Separatist groups said the transfer of land was part of a "conspiracy to settle non-local Hindus in the valley with a view to reducing the Muslims to a minority".

Local environmentalists also protested against the decision.

The unrest has brought back memories of widespread protests that swept the region after a separatist insurgency began in 1989.