Kashmir separatists call strike for Indian PM's visit
Saturday, 11 October 2008
SRINAGAR, Oct 10 (AFP): Muslim separatists opposed to Indian rule in Kashmir called Friday for a strike to protest a visit by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the volatile region.
Singh was expected in Indian-controlled Kashmir later in the day to inaugurate a major hydroelectric project and flag off the Kashmir Valley's first train service on Saturday.
"We call upon the people to stage peaceful protests after Friday prayers and observe a complete strike on Saturday to protest the prime minister's visit," said a statement by a separatist coordination committee that has spearheaded some of the biggest anti-India protests in two decades.
Neighbouring Pakistan has said it fears the hydroelectric project on the Chenab River could deprive its wheat-bowl state of Punjab of vital irrigation water and argues that it violates a decades-old water sharing treaty brokered by the World Bank.
India says it is crucial to resolving Kashmir's energy supply problems.
A train service to the mountainous region has been a long- standing demand of people of the region who accuse the Indian government of neglecting development in the state.
The service will eventually link the militancy-wracked northern parts of the Himalayan region with the rest of India.
Singh was expected in Indian-controlled Kashmir later in the day to inaugurate a major hydroelectric project and flag off the Kashmir Valley's first train service on Saturday.
"We call upon the people to stage peaceful protests after Friday prayers and observe a complete strike on Saturday to protest the prime minister's visit," said a statement by a separatist coordination committee that has spearheaded some of the biggest anti-India protests in two decades.
Neighbouring Pakistan has said it fears the hydroelectric project on the Chenab River could deprive its wheat-bowl state of Punjab of vital irrigation water and argues that it violates a decades-old water sharing treaty brokered by the World Bank.
India says it is crucial to resolving Kashmir's energy supply problems.
A train service to the mountainous region has been a long- standing demand of people of the region who accuse the Indian government of neglecting development in the state.
The service will eventually link the militancy-wracked northern parts of the Himalayan region with the rest of India.