SRINAGAR (Al- Jazeera) - At least 10 demonstrators have been killed in Indian-administered Kashmir since an Indian court sentenced prominent Kashmiri pro-independence leader Yasin Malik to life in prison earlier this week, officials say.
The region’s police said that four suspected people were killed in two separate gunfights in the disputed region on Friday.
A day before, officials said the security forces killed six demonstrators in the region in the past 24 hours while the rebels shot dead a 35-year-old female TV performer and a police officer.
“Three militants each of Jaish-e-Muhammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba were killed in two separate gun battles,” Kashmir police chief Vijay Kumar said, referring to two rebel groups fighting in the region. “We have also lost a cop in one of the operations.”
Police on Thursday also arrested at least 10 people following anti-India protests over Wednesday’s sentencing of 56-year-old Malik, the region’s best-known separatist.
Malik led the banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), one of the first armed rebel groups in Indian-administered Kashmir. He later shifted to peaceful means in seeking an end to Indian rule.
Malik was arrested in 2019 and was convicted last week on charges of committing “terrorist” acts, illegally raising funds, belonging to a terrorist organisation, and criminal conspiracy and sedition.
Before Wednesday’s sentencing, dozens of Kashmiris gathered at Malik’s home in Srinagar, the largest city in Indian-administered Kashmir. Some marched through the streets, chanting “We want freedom” and “Go back India”.
Police on Thursday tweeted that the 10 youths were arrested for “anti-national sloganeering & stone pelting outside home of Yasin Malik”.
Indian-administered Kashmir, the country’s only Muslim-majority region, is divided between India and Pakistan since British colonialists granted it independence in 1947. Both countries claim the region in its entirety and have fought two wars over its control.