The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Srinagar

Thousands of Muslims marched in Srinagar on Friday, resuming protests over a land row with the region's Hindus that have galvanised a separatist revolt against New Delhi.

People walked and some rode motorcycles and jeeps to a sprawling ground in downtown Srinagar to attend an independence rally to be addressed by separatist leaders.

Policemen and soldiers dressed in battle gear patrolled the streets as marchers arrived from nearby towns and villages. A dispute over land for Hindu pilgrims visiting a shrine in Kashmir snowballed into full-scale protests this month, boosting separatists who want India's only Muslim-majority region to secede.

Police have killed at least 23 Muslim protesters and over 500 have been injured in clashes in two weeks of demonstrations. Protests were halted for three days, until Friday, to allow Kashmiris to stock up on rations. The protests were some of the biggest since a separatist revolt against Indian rule broke out in the region in 1989.

"We appeal to people to march to Eidgah (ground), to remember and pay homage to martyrs," a joint statement of Kashmiri separatists said. "And to protest Indian occupation and pray for Kashmir's secession."

Eidgah, a sprawling gro-und for mass Eid prayers, lies in downtown Srinagar adjacent to a "Martyrs Graveyard", a cemetery where militants and civilians are among those buried.

The row over whether some forest land should be given to a Hindu shrine trust has pitted Muslims in the Kashmir valley against Hindus in Jammu, the two main regions that make up Jammu and Kashmir.

The dispute began after the state government promised to give forest land to the Hindu trust that runs the cave shrine of Amarnath. Many Muslims were enraged, leading the state government to rescind its decision. That in turn angered Hindus in Jammu, where thousands have protested the revocation of the land order and criticised the government for "pandering to separatists".

At least 10 people have also been killed in nearly two months in Jammu, where Hindus attacked lorries carrying supplies to the Kashmir valley and often blocked the region's highway, the only surface link with the rest of India.

Kashmiri Muslims, challenging what they said was an economic blockade, then took to the streets to protest.