Indian Occupied Kashmir again flares up with “Kashmir Banega Paksitan” slogans

SRINAGAR: A Muslim youth was killed and eight others injured when police fired tear gas and used batons to disperse scores of anti-India protesters in Kashmir on Sunday, police and witnesses said.

The violence broke out when protesters pelted police positions with stones and bricks in downtown Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian held Kashmir and urban hub of anti-India separatists.

The youth was critically injured when a tear gas shell hit his head, a police officer said, insisting on anonymity.

“He later died in hospital,” the officer said, adding that police were still trying to establish the dead person’s identity.

The death sparked more protests in Srinagar, with demonstrators burning tyres and blocking roads, residents said.

Kashmir is in the grip of a 20-year insurgency against Indian rule that has left more than 100,000 people dead according to official figures.

Anti-India feeling runs deep in the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley, the centre of the insurgency.

Kashmir had been relatively stable in recent months but militant violence has increased in the past few weeks.

Earlier in January, Indian commandos stormed a hotel in Srinagar and killed two militants who had been holed up in the guesthouse for nearly 24 hours. A civilian and a policeman also died in the siege and attacks and clashes have continued since. -AFP