August 18, 2008	Monday	Sha'aban 15, 1429

SRINAGAR, Aug 17: Scattered groups of protesters across occupied Kashmir repeated their call for independence on Sunday as Muslim leaders prepared for a march expected to draw large crowds.

The streets of Srinagar were relatively quiet on Sunday, a day after tens of thousands of demonstrators shut down the city to honour a slain Kashmiri leader and demand Indian forces leave Kashmir.

Protests were reported in several towns in southern Kashmir, including Bijbehara and Anantnag, but security forces were sparse to avoid provoking another deadly clash.

At least 34 people have been killed in more than six weeks of unrest in occupied Kashmir that has pitted Muslims against the region’s Hindu minority.

Liberation groups prepared for a march on Monday through downtown Srinagar that Masarat Aalam, a prominent leader, expected would draw tens of thousands of people.

Leaders planned to deliver a petition to the United Nations office in Srinagar citing human rights violations by Indian authorities and demanding UN intervention, Aalam said.

Indian authorities have discouraged the march and warned of a showdown if the liberation activists went ahead with their plans, senior police officer Afabul Mujataba said.

The crisis began in June with a dispute over land near a Hindu shrine. The Hindu minority was angered when authorities reversed a decision to give 99 acres of land to a Hindu trust to build facilities for pilgrims near the shrine. Muslims had complained that the gift of land was actually a settlement plan meant to alter the religious balance in the region.

The growing unrest has unleashed pent-up tensions between Kashmir’s

Muslims and Hindus and threatened to snap the bonds between India and the Muslim-majority occupied Kashmir.—AP