Kashmir Militants Burn India Flags During Break in Curfew

Muslim militants fighting for an independent nation burned Indian flags on the streets Saturday during a two-hour break in a week-old curfew in the Kashmir Valley, witnesses said.

Hundreds of soldiers and paramilitary policemen patrolled Srinagar and adjoining towns.

At least 72 people, mostly curfew violators, have been killed since Jan. 20, when troops and police officers fanned out in the northern valley to counter militants demanding secession of predominantly Muslim Kashmir from mostly Hindu India.

The government repeated charges that neighboring Pakistan was fomenting the trouble and appealed to the United States and several other countries to ensure the situation does not get out of hand.

Pakistan has denied fueling the secessionist movement.

Journalists were forbidden from going on the streets of Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir state, and a district judge ordered the expulsion of five foreign correspondents, from Time, Newsweek, the Christian Science Monitor, United Press International and the French news agency Agence France-Presse.

District Magistrate Ghulam Abbas said the presence of the reporters and photographers “was adjudged prejudicial to the security of the state.”

There were no sounds of gunfire in the city Saturday.

Authorities relaxed the curfew in Srinagar for two hours Saturday, but few people went outside because it was raining. Residents were not informed of the break until a radio announcement about 45 minutes before the break was scheduled to end.

Groups of young Muslim men gathered at two places in the city and burned Indian flags, witnesses said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The last break in the round-the-clock curfew was Thursday. The curfew was abruptly imposed again after police said Muslim militants killed four air force officers on the outskirts of the city.

Kashmir has been a disputed area since 1947, when India and Pakistan gained independence after the partition of British-ruled India. Some of the militants want Kashmir to unify with Pakistan.