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Renegade militant organizes strike in Kashmir |
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August 12, 2000
SRINAGAR (AP) - Supporters of a renegade militant on Friday attacked vehicles and forced people to stay indoors as they called a two-day general strike to protest Thursday's car bomb explosion by a pro-Pakistan guerrilla group that killed at least 11 people and wounded 19 others. The protesters smashed windowpanes of nearly one dozen buses and cars and prevented children from going to school in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu-Kashmir state. They belonged to the National Security Organization, a group headed by Javed Ahmed Shah, a militant-turned-politician. Shah got elected to the state legislature in 1996 as a governing National Conference party lawmaker. In early 1990, Shah deserted the state police and joined a militant group. But he gave up arms three years later. Local residents complained that police were helping Shah's supporters in enforcing the strike by preventing them from going to work. The Hezb-ul Mujahedeen, Kashmir's main militant group, claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack in which 10 policemen and one photojournalist were killed. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said the car bomb explosion in Srinagar was executed "at the behest of Pakistan." It was the group's first strike since it called off a cease-fire on Tuesday, as well as talks with the Indian government aimed at restoring peace in Kashmir Valley. "With our cease-fire we showed the Indians that we can be peace-loving, but with this we have now shown them that we can also be strong fighters," Salim Hashmi, a spokesman for the group, told The Associated Press in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Thursday. Before the lethal blast, the guerrillas set off a decoy hand grenade explosion that drew soldiers and journalists to Lal Chowk, the business district in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu-Kashmir state. Pradeep Bhatia, a photographer for The Hindustan Times, was killed in the blast. The state, claimed by both India and Pakistan, has been the center of an Islamic insurrection that has raged for 11 years, claiming some 25,000 lives. Kashmir has been wracked by a separatist movement since 1989. The militants want Kashmir to break away from India and remain independent or merge with Pakistan. |