Seven Hindu
pilgrims, most of them women, were killed in a gunbattle that erupted in Indian
Kashmir on Monday following two militant attacks on police, stoking outrage
and
protests nationwide.
The pilgrims
were on their way back from the Amarnath shrine deep in the Himalayas when
their bus got caught up in the crossfire near the town of Anantnag, police
said.
Twelve
pilgrims were wounded in the fighting triggered after the militants attacked a police
bunker and another police party at a checkpoint.
The attack
has stirred the ire of hardline Hindu groups tied to Prime Minister Narendra
Modi's ruling party who have long sought tough action against militants
fighting Indian rule in Muslim-majority Kashmir.
In the
Hindu-dominated Jammu region of the Indian state, saffron-clad members of the
right-wing Bajrang Dal group stopped cars to enforce a strike in memory of the
pilgrims.
Protests
also took place in the country's financial capital of Mumbai and the industrial
city of Ahmedabad in the west.
"Pained
beyond words on the dastardly attack on peaceful Amarnath pilgrims in Jammu and
Kashmir," Modi said on social network Twitter.
"The
attack deserves strongest condemnation from everyone," he added, saying he
had spoken to the state's governor and chief minister to assure them of all
possible help.
Hundreds of
thousands of Hindus visit the Amarnath cave, 12,000 feet (3,658 m) above sea
level in the picturesque Lidder Valley, in the months of July and August every
year.
Pilgrims
trek through treacherous mountain passes to the shrine, where devotees worship
a phallus-shaped ice stalagmite seen as a symbol of Lord Shiva, the Hindu god
of destruction.
Police
superintendent Altaf Khan said the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba was behind
the attack aimed at sowing sectarian discord.
But the
militant group rejected the allegation, calling the attack
"reprehensible", and accusing India of trying to sabotage the freedom
struggle of the Kashmiris.
Separatist
leaders also condemned the attack.
"This
incident goes against the very grain of Kashmiri ethos," separatist
leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Farooq and Yasin Malik said in a joint
statement.
"The
annual Amarnath yatra has been going on peacefully for centuries and is part of
our yearly rhythm and will remain so."
Militants
battling Indian rule in Kashmir have largely spared the pilgrimage, even during
the most violent phases of their 28-year armed revolt.
About
150,000 pilgrims have already completed the journey to Amarnath and tens of
thousands more are expected to do so by the time it ends in late August.
India has
been struggling to restore normality in Muslim-majority Kashmir, which both
India and Pakistan claim in full but rule in part.
India
accuses Pakistan of pushing in militants from its part of Kashmir to carry out
attacks, a charge denied by Islamabad.
Reuters*
0 Comments