Protesters listen to Mirwaiz Umar Farooq (C, light brown robe), Kashmir's chief cleric and chairman of the moderate faction of Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference, during an anti-India protest in Srinagar, Friday. Indian police opened fire at thousands of people demonstrating against Indian rule on Friday, killing at least two people, as protests across Kashmir showed no sign of abating, police said. (Inset) A Kashmiri woman runs for cover along with protesters as policemen chase them in Srinagar. – Reuters/AP SRINAGAR, India – Tens of thousands of Kashmiri Muslims held widespread protests in the Indian portion of the disputed Himalayan region on Friday, angered by the killing of two people in firing by government forces. Residents staged protest marches after Friday noon prayers and clashes erupted in some places where security forces tried to stop them, a police officer said. It was the latest round of two months of unrest in Indian-controlled Kashmir in which at least 62 people have died - mostly protesters hit by security forces' gunfire. On Friday, a 28-year-old man was killed and two others injured when the police fired on rock-throwing protesters in the southern town of Bijbehara, the officer said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak with media. Thousands more joined in the anti-India protests after the shooting, the officer said. Earlier, residents in Sopore, northwest of Indian Kashmir's main city, Srinagar, said paramilitary soldiers fired at a group of locals hours after a clash between rock-throwing protesters and government forces in the town late Thursday. Mudassir Ahmed, 19, died in a hospital early Friday. “The boys were just standing and talking in the street. They came and shot them,” said resident Firdous Ahmed. Police acknowledged that it was an unprovoked shooting. “There was no reason for the firing. Police have registered a case of murder against the paramilitary unit,” said a top police officer on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the case. Prabhakar Tripathi, a spokesman for the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force, said some soldiers were wounded during the clash. “Our officer was injured in a stone-pelting incident in the town and he fired in self-defense,” Tripathi said. It is the first time in the last two months of civil unrest that police have registered a case against soldiers or police officials for civilian killings. As Ahmed's body was carried into his neighborhood Friday, thousands of residents defied a curfew and came out of their homes to shout “Go India! Go back” and “We want freedom.” The unrest in Kashmir shows no signs of easing despite the deployment of thousands of troops and calls from the Indian prime minister for calm. Anti-India sentiment runs deep in the Himalayan enclave, which is divided between Hindu-majority India and predominantly Muslim Pakistan, but claimed by both in its entirety. Protesters reject Indian sovereignty over Kashmir - a majority Muslim region - and want independence or a merger with Pakistan. The recent unrest is reminiscent of the late 1980s, when protests against New Delhi's rule in Kashmir sparked an armed conflict that has so far killed more than 68,000 people, mostly civilians. Meanwhile, authorities lifted the curfew from most parts of Kashmir after separatists called residents to open businesses on Friday to allow people to stock up on food and other essential supplies. In Srinagar, thousands of people thronged the markets, and authorities removed steel barricades and razor wires from the roads to enable people to buy food and other items. But after noon prayers, the city saw street protests. Rock-throwing protesters clashed with police and paramilitary soldiers who fired warning shots in air and tear gas to disperse them. No casualties were immediately reported. “India has unleashed a reign of terror in Kashmir and has violated all human rights,” said Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a key separatist leader who led a march in Srinagar. “But New Delhi must know it cannot break our aspiration for independence.”
