By Kranti Kumara
19 August 2008

Indian government security forces have shot dead at least 21
unarmed civilians and wounded hundreds of others over the past
week in an attempt to repress widespread protests in the northern
Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K)—India’s
only majority Muslim state—over the economic blockade imposed
by Hindu-chauvinist groups.

The largest number of killings, at least 20, occurred on Tuesday
August 12, when police opened fire on angry demonstrators threatening
to walk across the “Line-of-Control” to the Pakistani-occupied
portion of the state as a way to circumvent the economic blockade.
This was a desperate attempt to export fruit and other commodities
using roads passing through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to other
states in India.

The protests erupted after Hindu-communalist mobs, at the instigation
of India’s opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), imposed
an “economic blockade” on the state by occupying roads
and bridges in Jammu, located in the southern portion of J&K.
The Hindu mobs claimed to be protesting against the state government’s
decision to rescind its previous grant of land to a Hindu shrine
board.

The road blockade not only resulted in shortages of food and
medicine in the northern Kashmir valley, but has also prevented
export of fruit from the state. Tourism and export of fruit form
the backbone of state’s economic activities. As a result
of the road blockade by Hindu-chauvinists, fruit has perished,
creating untold economic hardship to fruit growers and workers
in J&K.

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