Curfew in Kashmir enters seventh day

Heavy security presence surrounded deserted roads in Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital, as an indefinite curfew entered its seventh day on Saturday. Shops were shut down, and troops equipped with assault rifles patrolled deserted streets and blocked off lanes with razor wire and iron barricades in Srinagar, the heart of an insurgency where tens of thousands of people have been killed in two decades of violence.The Indian government deployed thousands of security forces and slapped an indefinite curfew on Srinagar last Sunday a day after Muslims set fire to public buildings in protests against New Delhi's rule. The government has been trying to respond to the biggest separatist demonstrations in two years in Kashmir triggered by the killing of a 17-year-old student by police in June. More than 90 people have been killed in a summer of protests in Kashmir, mostly from police firing into protesters, fuelling anti-India anger in the Muslim-majority valley. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, faced with criticism of not dealing with the protests seriously, held a meeting with the government and opposition parties on Wednesday, but all it decided was to send a delegation of politicians to Kashmir. Militancy has waned over the years in Kashmir, while mass street protests, often organised through Facebook, YouTube and mobile phones, have grown. The continuing cycle of strikes and curfews has shut down schools, colleges and offices, stopped newspapers from being printed, and made food and medicine scarce.