(AFP) – Aug 16, 2008

SRINAGAR, India (AFP) — Tens of thousands of people shouting freedom slogans massed Saturday in revolt-hit Indian Kashmir to mourn 22 protesters killed in police firing during huge demonstrations in the mainly Muslim region.

Mourners in cars, buses, jeeps and trucks streamed into Pampore town, just outside the main city Srinagar, to take part in the outpouring of grief and anger.

They shouted "We want freedom," "Indians go home" and "Kashmir is ours."

"This is a day we want to protest the slaying of 22 innocent Kashmiris," Mohammed Latief, a 32-year-old truck driver, said as the town centre was thronged by a sea of people in one of the biggest anti-India rallies in years.

Long-time separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the region's chief Muslim cleric, was carried to a podium on the shoulders of supporters.

"The entire world has seen how innocent Kashmiris were killed," Farooq told the crowd as cries of "shame" rang out from demonstrators.

"India claims to be a big democracy. Is this democracy? Is this humanity?" asked Farooq, who led the crowd in prayers for the victims of the shootings.

"These demonstrations should open the eyes of Indians. Every soul wants freedom," Farooq said earlier.

Security forces remained at a distance to avoid provoking further deadly clashes as demonstrators hoisted black flags, a Muslim symbol of mourning, and green Islamic flags.

Police had said they would not disrupt the event, which ended quietly after appeals from separatist leaders for the crowd to disperse peacefully.

Street battles earlier this week between police and stone-hurling demonstrators left at least 22 dead in police firing and hundreds injured. Police have promised to investigate every shooting death.

Srinagar and other parts of the Muslim-dominated Kashmir valley have been rocked by some of the biggest protests since an insurgency against New Delhi's rule erupted in 1989.

The unrest was triggered by a Kashmir government move in June to donate land to a Hindu shrine trust. The decision was later reversed, angering Hindus who dominate the south of Jammu and Kashmir state.

Hindu extremists then began blocking the only road link to the Kashmir valley, sparking a fresh wave of protests in Muslim areas and galvanising the separatist movement which was believed to be running out of steam.

Veteran separatist leader Sheikh Abdul Aziz was among those who died earlier this week in the police firing. Pampore, where the mourners gathered, was his home town.

Aziz was a former militant who had renounced violence and joined Indian Kashmir's political separatist alliance to seek independence for the region.

"He is our hero -- he has laid a fresh foundation for our freedom struggle with his martyrdom," said Ayub Laway, one of Aziz's supporters.

The rally in Pampore came a day after India's Independence Day celebrations when thousands of Muslims in Srinagar protested against New Delhi's rule with some burning the national flag.

Addressing the nation in New Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called it an "hour of crisis" and urged dialogue to resolve the violence in Kashmir, held in part by India and Pakistan but claimed in full by both.

Singh on Saturday reviewed the situation in Kashmir with senior cabinet colleagues in New Delhi.

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