August 16, 2008	Saturday	Sha'aban 13, 1429

SRINAGAR, Aug 15: Thousands of Muslims protested on Friday against New Delhi’s rule in Kashmir, with some of them burning the Indian flag on independence day, witnesses and officials said.

Srinagar and other parts of the occupied Kashmir valley have recently been rocked by some of the biggest protests since an anti-India insurgency erupted in 1989.

Street battles this week have left at least 22 dead — most of them Muslim youths — and hundreds injured in police firings.

On Friday, thousands of Kashmiris — whose leaders called for a boycott of India’s independence celebrations — waved black flags as they marched through Srinagar, chanting “We want freedom” and “Kashmir is ours”.

Thousands of worshippers emerged from the city’s main mosque after Friday prayers and burnt several Indian flags, witnesses said.

The rally came despite tight security in the city, where a curfew was lifted after four days. A general strike emptied roads and closed shops.

However, there were no reports of disruption of official functions marking the independence day, which sowed the seeds of the Kashmir dispute.

Defence spokesman S.D. Goswami told AFP there was intelligence that militants might “try to carry out attacks”, and that two suspected militants armed with hand grenades had been arrested on Friday morning.

Governor of Kashmir N.N. Vohra unfurled India’s national flag in the high-security Bakshi stadium in Srinagar. Residents stayed away, except for a few dozen students from the police school.

The unrest was triggered by a government move in June to donate land to a Hindu shrine trust. The decision was later reversed, angering Hindus who dominate the south of Jammu. Hindu extremists then began blocking the only road link to the Kashmir valley, sparking a fresh wave of protests in Muslim areas.

Vohra, making his speech from behind a bullet-proof screen, said: “I make a sincere appeal to the people of the state to maintain peace and calm in this difficult hour,” he said.—AFP