400,000 Muslims Rally in Kashmir to Demand an End to Indian Rule

Nearly 400,000 Muslims chanting, “We are ready for a holy war,” marched Friday to demand an end to India’s rule in Kashmir in the largest outpouring of anti-Indian sentiment in the troubled region since independence in 1947.

No serious violence was reported during the more than 30 separate processions that wound through the narrow streets of the city on the first Friday in a month that there has been no curfew in force.

Many of the protesters wore white funeral shrouds to demonstrate their willingness to die for their cause.

Security forces who have been enforcing a night curfew in Srinagar made no attempt to stop the protesters from marching to the U.N. office on the outskirts of the city.

Demonstrators chanting slogans such as “We want independence” and “We will die, but will not bow” and “Freedom is our birthright” carried flags of militant organizations spearheading the movement in Jammu and Kashmir, as the region is called officially.

Some of the protesters, who included veiled women and young children, burned the Indian national flag outside the U.N. office.

The protesters presented petitions to two officials of the U.N. military observer group that monitors the 1949 cease-fire line of the first Indo-Pakistan war. The line divides the disputed Kashmir region; two-thirds is controlled by India and the rest by Pakistan.

The demonstrations paralyzed traffic and shut down businesses and shops in the city.

Meanwhile, New Delhi rejected an offer by Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto for talks on the crisis in the disputed Kashmir Valley, saying Islamabad must first end its alleged support for separatist groups engineering the popular uprising against Indian rule.

“A dialogue would be purposeful and helpful only if Pakistan desists from such blatant interference and also refrains from vitiating the atmosphere,” said a statement read by a Foreign Ministry spokesman.

Pakistan has denied it is arming and training Kashmir militants.