SRINAGAR: Sheikh Abdul Rashid, an independent lawmaker of India-held Kashmir, was attacked with black ink during a press conference in New Delhi on Monday by a group known as Hindu Sena (Hindu army).

Mr Rashid, who opposes a ban on beef-eating, had been speaking on rising incidents of religious intolerance, according to news channel Times Now.

Earlier this month he was assaulted by lawmakers from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in held Kashmir’s parliament for throwing a beef party.

Meanwhile, police imposed a curfew in Kashmir to quell protests over the death of a Muslim truck worker, who was attacked by Hindu extremists angered over rumours cows had been slaughtered in the area.

The issue has become a flashpoint for religious tensions in India, since the lynching of a Muslim man wrongly accused of eating beef last month.

Protests in Kashmir over trucker’s death

Schools and businesses remained shut and universities cancelled exams as hundreds of police and paramilitary forces patrolled deserted streets on Monday.

Zahid Rasool Bhat, 19, died on Sunday from injuries he had suffered when Hindu activists firebombed the truck he was travelling in on Oct 9, following reports that a ban on slaughtering cows was being flouted after carcases were found in the area.

News of his death ignited anger across Kashmir where protesters threw rocks and clashed with government forces who fired tear-gas canisters to disperse them.

“We have imposed restrictions on public movement in many areas to avoid loss of life,” said a senior police officer, requesting anonymity.

There was no evidence Bhat was involved in the death of the cows, and forensic tests later showed the cows had died of poisoning.

India is the world’s biggest exporter of beef, which includes buffalo as well as cow meat, an industry mainly run by Muslims.

The BJP wants a nationwide ban on the slaughter of cows, currently prohibited in some but not all states.

Several groups had called for a shutdown on Monday in protest against the attack on Bhat, which also left a second man with severe burns.

Police have arrested nine for the attack on the truck after they were identified from CCTV footage and they are being charged with murder, a government spokesman said on Monday.

The chief minister of J&K, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, criticised the killing, saying India could not allow ‘kangaroo courts’.

There were fresh protests early on Monday as Bhat was buried in his native village of Botengoo.

The region has been tense since a court last month ordered the strict implementation of a longstanding, but rarely implemented, colonial-era law banning cow slaughter and the sale of beef in the area.

Another court has since set aside that order and recommended the government review the law.—Agencies

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play