Rajendra Bajpai
SRINAGAR, Jan 29 (1990): Security forces opened fire on anti-India protesters in Kashmir on Monday, killing one man and wounding two, police sources said.
The incident took place as Moslems went from door to door in Srinagar, summer capital of the country’s only Moslem-majority state, telling their Hindu and Sikh neighbours that they would not become targets of sectarian violence.
The violence has been mainly limited to clashes between security forces and Moslem militants campaigning for Jammu and Kashmir state’s independence or its secession to neighbouring Pakistan.
Monday’s casualties were caused when security forces trying to disperse an angry crowd opened fire in a village near Srinagar, the sources said.
Anti-India protests were held in the northwestern town of Sopore and militants set off bombs near Anantnag and in Srinagar. No casualties were reported in these incidents.
Residents said many Hindu and Sikh families fled Srinagar last week when violent protest swept the city.
Indian security forces, trying to put down the revolt, shot dead nearly 50 people in running battles with Moslem demonstrators backing the militants’ campaign.
A curfew, finally enforced last Friday, was relaxed on Monday and residents said Moslems went from door to door to try to reassure the remaining Hindus and Sikhs that they were safe.
No sectarian attacks were reported in Srinagar last week but many Hindus and Sikhs fled, fearing riots of the sort that erupt sporadically elsewhere in India between the country’s majority Hindus, the large Moslem minority and the smaller Sikh community.
The exodus prompted weekend demonstrations in Delhi by the Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), whose parliamentary support is vital to the minority government of Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh.
Singh, who faces regional elections next month, has made it clear he will not concede Kashmir to the militants.
Foreign Minister Inder Gujral has launched a diplomatic offensive against Pakistan, which has fought two wars with India over Kashmir and controls a third of the territory.
India accuses Pakistan of arming Kashmiri militants. Pakistan denies this and has repeated its demand for a plebiscite on the state’s future.
On Monday the crackdown in Srinagar by the new Kashmir governor, Jagmohan, seemed to be working.
The curfew was lifted for seven hours, security patrols were smaller, buses and three-wheeler taxis returned to the streets, shops opened and Kashmiris came out to restock their larders.
A government spokesman said there were no violent incidents. Officials said they would relax the curfew for an extra hour each day if tension continued to ease.
Media restrictions enforced on Friday were eased too.
Visiting journalists, who had been confined to the main hotel and refused access to its telephones, were allowed to make and receive calls and the public telex office, under armed guard over the weekend, was reopened.
