Violence Ebbs As Curfew Is Relaxed In The Indian-Administered Kashmir

Srinagar, India (AHN) - Tensions have declined in the Indian-administered Kashmir valley as violence has ebbed and authorities have extended relaxing the curfew from two-hours to six- to eight-hours each day, reports said.

The situation in the Kashmir valley improved in most of the areas during the relaxed curfew period for six hours on Saturday in the summer capital of India.

People were allowed to purchase some food supplies and other essentials.

For more than a month, the region has experienced rising violence and anti-government protests by Muslim separatists, who have been demanding to end Indian rule in the state.

Indian authorities were forced to impose a curfew during the week as massive protests were held by tens of thousands of people shouting freedom slogans after weeks of continuing violence over a land row.

The separatists, who raised bars over the controversial land deal and ballooned it into an independence struggle, have been revolting against the government in the region for 20 years ago.

The transfer of land to a Hindu pilgrim group has slowly turned in to the anti-India protests in Indian-administered Kashmir as the authorities had decided to allot the plot of land to a Hindu pilgrim body in the Muslim-majority region.

A key Kashmiri separatist group has accused the state government for trying to change the demography of the Muslim-dominated region and they had warned that the step may lead to a huge unrest.

In 1989, similar anti-India demonstrations were reported after the region experienced an increase in separatist insurgency.

Kashmir, which is at the foothills of the Himalayan region, is partly occupied by Pakistan and the rest by India.