Post by Anja Nieser on Oct 1, 2006 5:41:06 GMT -5
Kashmir city erupts in protest over death penalty
Police fired teargas shells in Indian Kashmir on Wednesday to quell
violent protests over the planned execution of a Kashmiri man for his role
in a 2001 militant attack on India's parliament.
Hundreds of Kashmiri men took to the streets of Srinagar, the region's
main city, hurling stones at police and vehicles, burning tires and
blocking roads, a day after a New Delhi court set October 20 as the date
to hang Mohammed Afzal.
"Afzal is innocent ... we want freedom," the protesters shouted.
Afzal had been sentenced to death for his role in the conspiracy to attack
the parliament complex and the Supreme Court upheld the conviction last
year.
However, he can appeal to the Indian president for clemency, and lawyers
fighting for prisoners' rights said they would decide on filing a plea
after consulting Afzal.
Five gunmen stormed the heavily guarded parliament complex on December 13,
2001 but were killed by security forces before they could enter the
building housing the chambers.
The attack, blamed by India on Pakistan but denied by Islamabad, brought
the nuclear-armed rivals dangerously close to their 4th war.
In fresh violence on Wednesday, suspected separatist militants shot dead
one policeman and wounded another in Srinagar. Later, rebels threw a
grenade at a security bunker in the city, wounding 5 policemen and 2
civilians.
Earlier, police detained Mohammad Yasin Malik, a senior separatist leader
who led the protests in Srinagar, along with a dozen supporters.
"By hanging innocent Kashmiris India can't suppress our freedom struggle,"
Malik, head of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), said before
launching Wednesday's protests.
Protesters held placards that read "Don't repeat Maqbool Bhat, don't hang
Afzal."
Mohammad Maqbool Bhat, the founder of JKLF, was hanged in 1984 for killing
an Indian intelligence officer. Bhat is buried at New Delhi's Tihar jail
where Afzal is due to be executed.
Afzal's execution would be the 1st in 17 years at Tihar.
More than 45,000 people have been killed in the 17-year-old separatist
revolt in Jammu and Kashmir, the only Muslim-majority state in mainly
Hindu India.
(source: Reuters)
Police fired teargas shells in Indian Kashmir on Wednesday to quell
violent protests over the planned execution of a Kashmiri man for his role
in a 2001 militant attack on India's parliament.
Hundreds of Kashmiri men took to the streets of Srinagar, the region's
main city, hurling stones at police and vehicles, burning tires and
blocking roads, a day after a New Delhi court set October 20 as the date
to hang Mohammed Afzal.
"Afzal is innocent ... we want freedom," the protesters shouted.
Afzal had been sentenced to death for his role in the conspiracy to attack
the parliament complex and the Supreme Court upheld the conviction last
year.
However, he can appeal to the Indian president for clemency, and lawyers
fighting for prisoners' rights said they would decide on filing a plea
after consulting Afzal.
Five gunmen stormed the heavily guarded parliament complex on December 13,
2001 but were killed by security forces before they could enter the
building housing the chambers.
The attack, blamed by India on Pakistan but denied by Islamabad, brought
the nuclear-armed rivals dangerously close to their 4th war.
In fresh violence on Wednesday, suspected separatist militants shot dead
one policeman and wounded another in Srinagar. Later, rebels threw a
grenade at a security bunker in the city, wounding 5 policemen and 2
civilians.
Earlier, police detained Mohammad Yasin Malik, a senior separatist leader
who led the protests in Srinagar, along with a dozen supporters.
"By hanging innocent Kashmiris India can't suppress our freedom struggle,"
Malik, head of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), said before
launching Wednesday's protests.
Protesters held placards that read "Don't repeat Maqbool Bhat, don't hang
Afzal."
Mohammad Maqbool Bhat, the founder of JKLF, was hanged in 1984 for killing
an Indian intelligence officer. Bhat is buried at New Delhi's Tihar jail
where Afzal is due to be executed.
Afzal's execution would be the 1st in 17 years at Tihar.
More than 45,000 people have been killed in the 17-year-old separatist
revolt in Jammu and Kashmir, the only Muslim-majority state in mainly
Hindu India.
(source: Reuters)