Politicians were meeting on Monday to find a way to end weeks of violent anti-government protests in Indian Kashmir which have killed 15 people, dragged in the army and locked down the disputed region. A separatist strike has kept Kashmir on the boil, shutting down much of a region at the core of a dispute between India and Pakistan. Both claim the Kashmir region in full but rule it in part. However, the region's main opposition People's Democratic Party stayed away, urging the state chief minister Omar Abdullah to end the crackdown on civilians. The unrest threatens to strain a tentative peace process between the two countries which had begun to repair relations after the 2008 attacks on Mumbai. While locals say the protests are spontaneous, the Indian government has accused the Lashkar-e-Taiba of fomenting the violence. India says Pakistan incites trouble in its half of Kashmir. Pakistan says it only lends moral support to what it calls the local people's independence struggle. On Monday, streets in Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital, were almost deserted. Schools and colleges remained closed and security forces patrolled empty streets. Police have banned the public assembly of more than four people.
