SRINAGAR, Feb 4 (1994) – Kashmiri Moslems staged anti-Indian protests and a general strike gripped this strife-torn Kashmir summer capital on Friday following the mysterious death of a top Moslem militant, witnesses said.
Small groups of Kashmiri Moslems took to the streets chanting “we want freedom” and “we will spill blood for blood” as news spread of the death of Mohammed Yaqoob, a member of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).
Residents erected roadblocks and burned tyres in the streets to protest the death of the 23-year-old JKLF guerrilla, who was the militant-appointed “area commander” for downtown Srinagar.
Vehicles went off the roads and shopkeepers closed their shutters.
Yaqoob’s body was handed over to the local police Friday by troops of the paramilitary Border Security Force (BSF), which said the militant had died during crossfire.
Residents claimed, however, that the JKLF guerrilla and four other militants were arrested by BSF troopers during a search operation in downtown Srinagar on Friday and that Yaqoob had been killed in cold blood.
The JKLF is one of the largest of the Moslem militant groups opposed to Indian rule over Kashmir and favors independence for the northern state.
Local human rights groups claim that some 30 Kashmiri Moslem youths have been killed while in custody during the past two months.
More than 8,000 people have died in Kashmir, India’s only Moslem-majority state, since Moslem militants launched a campaign for an end to Indian rule in 1989.
