3 killed in Indian Kashmir as protests over feared Hindu settlements turn violent

SRINAGAR, India (AP) _ Tens of thousands of demonstrators paralyzed cities in Indian-controlled Kashmir with protests against what they charge is a government plan to build Hindu settlements in the Muslim-majority region. Police used tear gas and fired live ammunition to disperse the crowds, which assembled for a sixth straight day Saturday in some of the largest protests against Indian rule since a separatist rebellion broke out in the Himalayan region nearly two decades ago.
Three people were killed, hundreds wounded and scores of vehicles set on fire, said Prabhakar Tripathi, a spokesman for the Central Reserve Police Force. At least 12 paramilitary soldiers and 29 civilians were injured in clashes Saturday.
The protests were sparked by the recent transfer of 99 acres (40 hectares) of land by the state government to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, a trust running a Hindu shrine, to construct facilities for the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who flock there every year. The pilgrims come to see a large icicle in a cave that devout Hindus revere as an incarnation of the Lord Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction and regeneration.
But Kashmiris, long mistrustful of an Indian government that has suppressed the uprising with a heavy hand and has some 700,000 soldiers based in Kashmir, believe that India plans to turn the structures into a permanent settlement for Hindus. Indian officials dismiss the allegations, saying India has never tried to encourage Hindu migration to the region, India's only Muslim-majority state.
The Indian constitution also prohibits outsiders from buying land in Kashmir. "The issue does not stop there," said Mirwaiz Omer Farooq, head of the moderate faction All Parties Hurriyat Conference.
"There are thousands of acres of land occupied by the Indian army that also need be addressed." Protests Saturday by thousands of demonstrators in Srinagar, the largest city in the region, kept traffic and pedestrians off the roads and shut businesses and schools.
The protesters chanted anti-Indian slogans, threw rocks at police officers and damaged at least two police stations in Srinagar.