September 02, 2008	Tuesday	Ramazan 1, 1429

SRINAGAR, Sept 1: India authorities released All Parties Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the leader of a breakaway group, on Monday but anger festered in occupied Kashmir against a government deal with Hindu groups to resolve a land dispute that has paralysed the state.

The leaders had been detained for over a week as authorities tried to defuse protests.

Another leader, Mohammed Yasin Malik, was also released, according to occupied Kashmir police chief S.M. Sahai.

At least 38 people, mostly Muslims, have been killed since a row over land for Hindu pilgrims snowballed into some of the biggest pro-independence demonstrations in the valley since 1989.

The government announced a deal with Hindu groups on Sunday, sparking celebrations in Jammu.

In Kashmir, however, the deal has been rejected by pro-independence leaders and some other parties.

A curfew remained in place for the ninth day, but more protests were planned and sporadic clashes broke out in the valley.

Police fired rubber bullets at protesters in Srinagar, hitting a sweeper in the chest. “We categorically reject the deal,” APHC’s acting chairman Maulana Mohammed Abbas Ansari said in a statement. “The land issue is not that important to us at this stage when freedom is our declared objective.”

Meanwhile, three other detained leaders — Shabir Shah, Aasiya Andrabi and Ashraf Sehrai -- were charged with threatening India’s security.—Agencies