Indian Troops Scour Kashmir for Separatists

Troops searched from house to house Friday for pro-Pakistan Muslims waging a violent separatist campaign in Kashmir, and the government imposed a virtual news blackout.

At least 70 people, most of them Muslim militants, have been killed since the government began a crackdown last weekend to try to halt separatist violence.

Witnesses in Srinagar, summer capital of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, said soldiers and paramilitary commandos of the elite National Security Guard were searching the city. Similar searches were reported in the nearby towns of Anantnag and Baramulla.

Journalists in Srinagar were confined to a hotel and told they would be arrested, or even shot, if they stepped outside.

In Muzaffarabad, Pakistan, Premier Sikander Hyat Khan of Pakistani Kashmir, said he would launch a Muslim “holy war” unless the United Nations schedules a special session to address the Kashmir issue.

Muzaffarabad is the capital of Pakistani Kashmir and near the cease-fire line that has divided the region between India and Pakistan since 1947, when the subcontinent became independent of Britain and the two nations were created. India and Pakistan have fought four wars, three of them specifically over Kashmir.

Most of the 5 million people in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir are Muslims. It is the only state with a Muslim majority in India, a predominantly Hindu nation.

Indian state television described the situation in Jammu and Kashmir as “by and large peaceful,” but said at least nine people were killed Thursday when paramilitary troops fired on rioters in Handwara, 40 miles northwest of Srinagar.

Troops in Srinagar tightened restrictions under the 24-hour curfew and prevented residents from opening windows, said witnesses reached by telephone.

From various vantage points in Srinagar, a city of 1 million, only heavily armed troops and an occasional government official could be seen on the streets.