November 08, 2008	Saturday	Ziqa'ad 9, 1429

SRINAGAR, Nov 7: Troops carrying automatic rifles locked down occupied Srinagar on Friday as Kashmiris tried for a second day to hold a big rally against New Delhi’s rule and upcoming elections in the disputed region.

Shops, businesses and schools remained closed across the Kashmir valley, which in recent months has seen some of the biggest pro-independence protests since a revolt against Indian rule erupted in 1989.

Police and soldiers used loudspeakers in Srinagar to warn residents to stay home and blocked off lanes with razor wire and iron barricades. Residents said it resembled an undeclared curfew.

Kashmiri leaders had re-scheduled their anti-India rally in the 500-year-old Jamia Masjid, or Grand Mosque, on Friday, where they were to announce plans to boycott elections beginning on Nov 17.

“This city has now become a prison, every second day they impose a curfew without announcing it,” government employee Manzoor Ahmad Shah complained.

Life in Srinagar, a city of 1.1 million people dotted with lakes and ancient Sufi shrines, is frequently disrupted by strikes, protests and curfews over the Kashmir cause.

The latest protests, sparked by a land row over a Hindu shrine trust in June, have embarrassed the Indian government. At least 42 people have been killed by security forces and more than 1,000 wounded.

“Indian forces cannot suppress our struggle by imposing undeclared curfews and by sealing off localities,” Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, said.

“I appeal to people to hold peaceful rallies and protests on the poll dates,” said Farooq, who has been under house arrest since Wednesday.

Senior leaders who participated in an earlier anti-election campaign were sent to jail under a tough law that allows detention for up to two years.—Reuters