August 17, 2008	Sunday	Sha'aban 14, 1429

NEW DELHI, Aug 16: More than 100,000 mourners gathered on Saturday in Kashmir’s district of Pampur to pay their respects to the slain resistance leader Sheikh Abdul Aziz and demanded a UN probe into his killing by Indian troops.

“We had the biggest gathering in recent memory to pay respects to the martyred leader. But we are dismayed by the silence of the international community to the extreme repression going on in Kashmir,” Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said from Srinagar.

Protesters travelled to Pampur, the native town of Mr Aziz who, along with 21 others, was killed by police this week during violent protests.

Police kept their distance during Saturday’s march, as demonstrators hoisted black protest and green flags. They chanted slogans demanding Kashmir’s independence from India.

At least 500 people have been wounded in clashes this week between Muslim separatists and Indian security forces.

The unrest was triggered by the government’s June decision to donate land to a Hindu shrine. Muslims staged mass protests, forcing the government to revoke the transfer, which angered Hindus who sparked fresh protests this week with a roadblock.

An impromptu coordination committee formed to lead the protests against the state’s complicity in the shootings includes three long-time rivals. After a long time Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Yasin Malik spoke at Saturday’s gathering together with the Mirwaiz.

They have decided to lead a march to the UN office in Srinagar to submit a petition that the gathering passed.