SRINAGAR, INDIA — Shops, businesses and schools were shut in the Indian portion of Kashmir today to protest a visit by the Indian prime minister to the disputed Himalayan region.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was in the region to meet with pro-Indian political parties. Today he inaugurated Kashmir’s first train line, meant to forge stronger ties between the region and the rest of India.
His visit comes amid a wave of unrest that has included some of the largest protests against Indian rule in two decades.
On Friday, police fatally shot two people as thousands of Muslims protested Singh’s arrival. At least 75 others, including 34 security personnel, were injured in the clashes.
The Jammu-Kashmir Coordination Committee, a coalition of Muslim separatists and local business leaders, called for a strike today in the region’s main city, Srinagar, to protest Singh’s visit.
The city’s streets were deserted and government forces erected steel barricades and laid razor wire on the streets in anticipation of protests. Thousands of additional soldiers in riot gear patrolled the city.
“We’re taking no chance and are strictly enforcing restrictions to maintain law and order,” senior police official B. Srinivas said.
Anti-India sentiment runs deep in Kashmir, where most people favor independence from mainly Hindu India or a merger with predominantly Muslim Pakistan.
At least 45 people have died in the unrest in recent months, most of them killed when Indian soldiers opened fire on Muslim demonstrators.
Speaking to reporters late Friday, Singh expressed sadness over the deaths and reiterated India’s commitment to peacefully solving the Kashmir crisis.
“It has always been our belief that even the most difficult issues can be resolved through dialogue,” Singh said.
A key separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, rejected Singh’s call for talks.
“Economic packages or railway lines cannot be alternates to the right of self-determination,” he said Friday. “We believe a dialogue process is futile unless it is for discussing this fundamental right.” Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, which both claim the region and have fought two wars over it.
Militant separatist groups have been fighting since 1989 to end Indian rule. The uprising and subsequent Indian crackdown have killed some 68,000 people, most of them civilians.
