[Prev][Next][Index]
Moslem militants kill Hindu leader in Kashmir
This was posted by S Pavithran.
Agence France Presse
December 27, 1994 06:50 Eastern Time
SECTION: International news
LENGTH: 334 words
HEADLINE: Moslem militants kill Hindu leader in Kashmir
DATELINE: SRINAGAR, India, Dec 27
BODY:
Moslem separatists gunned down a Hindu politician in Kashmir on Tuesday,
sparking Hindu mob violence and forcing authorities to call out the Indian army
in the border state, police said.
Gunmen pumped bullets into Praveen Kumar, a local leader of the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP, Indian People's Party) at his residence in Kishtwar town, in
the hill district of Doda, the police said. Kumar died instantly.
Angry BJP supporters poured on to the streets, attacking Moslems and their
property, forcing the authorities to impose a curfew in Doda, where Moslems were
preparing for the funeral of eight militants killed a day earlier.
Army troops were called out in Doda to beef up security.
"The situation is now under control," Kashmir police chief Mahinder Sabharwal
told AFP.
Doda, which is evenly divided between Hindus and Moslems, has seen an upsurge
in violence recently by Moslem guerrillas waging a bloody campaign to end Indian
rule in Kashmir.
The Hindu-revivalist BJP, India's main opposition party, wields
considerable influence among the Hindus of Kashmir.
Indian security forces Monday shot dead eight Moslem militants, including two
foreign mercenaries, near Doda town, leading to mass protest demonstrations by
Moslems who took to the streets chanting anti- India slogans.
More than 10,000 people have died since 1989 in the separatist campaign in
Kashmir, India's only Moslem-majority state. Scores of mercenaries, mainly
from Afghanistan, have also joined the separatist war.
