Thousands of demonstrators on Wednesday staged noisy anti-India protests in Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) after prayers to mark the end of Ramadan.
Thousands of Muslims poured into the streets, shouting, “We want freedom!” and “Allah is great,” after offering Eid prayers in the northern town of Sopore, about an hour’s drive from Srinagar.
The protests were led by hardline separatist Syed Ali Geelani.
Geelani addressed a huge gathering in Sopore’s main square, urging India to end its “occupation of Kashmir”.
“People of India are our brothers. We have no animosity towards them. We only urge India to end its occupation of Kashmir,” Geelani said, as mainly young Kashmiri men chanted, “Go India, go back!”
Sopore was once the bastion of pro-Pakistan militants but in recent years the guerrilla presence has lessened following the start of a peace process between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan.
Meanwhile, in Srinagar, police used tear gas to disperse crowds after another top separatist and leading cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq addressed thousands of worshippers as pro-freedom slogans rang out.
Farooq later urged India’s leading anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare to “also voice concern over the deteriorating human rights situation in Kashmir”.
“People like Hazare should help us in ending human rights violations by troops in our state,” Farooq told the crowd.
Police said a woman bystander and a policeman were injured during one of the four clashes reported during the day across the valley.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah attended Eid prayers at a shrine near his residence amid tight security.
“Eid embeds the message of taking care of the needy and making them part of the happiness by extending economic support to them,” Abdullah said in an Eid message, and expressed the hope that “Eid would bring peace, prosperity and well-being to the state.”
Abdullah this week declared an amnesty for more than 1,000 youths alleged to have attacked security forces during pro-independence protests last year in which more than 100 civilians died.
Last year Eid was marred by massive protests and arson attacks that forced authorities to impose a curfew in major Kashmir towns.
But this Eid, children were out in large numbers setting off crackers and purchasing toys and candies, while young men on motorbikes and cars roamed the streets.
Kashmir is in the grip of a more than 20-year-old insurgency against Indian rule that has left more than 47,000 people dead.
IHK remains under heavy military control but this summer has not seen the cycle of violence and strict curfews that hit the disputed Himalayan region in recent years.
Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, but claimed in its entirety by both nations. The dispute has triggered two of the three wars fought by the neighbours since independence from colonial rule in 1947.
