SRINAGAR, India (AFP) — India's national security advisor arrived in revolt-hit Kashmir on Wednesday to review the situation after weeks of violent protests have shaken the region, officials said.
M.K. Narayanan was in Indian Kashmir's summer capital Srinagar "to assess the situation," a state government official said, asking not to be named.
The mainly Muslim region has been rocked by some of the biggest protests since a deadly separatist Islamic insurgency against New Delhi's rule erupted in 1989.
The latest tensions centre around a small piece of land awarded to a Hindu pilgrimage trust, sparking Muslim protests that began in June when the order was made public.
The order was then rescinded, prompting Hindu hardliners to block the region's main highway -- a protest that kept the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley shut for nine days.
Since June, at least 31 Muslims and three Hindus have died in police firing on protesters in the Kashmir valley and Jammu area.
On Monday, tens of thousands of Muslims took to the streets of Srinagar to demand that the United Nations recognise the Himalayan region's right to self-determination.
Narayanan was accompanied by India's top intelligence and home ministry officials, who were slated to hold meetings with key state officials.
The visit came amid a lull in protests after separatists, who are spearheading the demonstrations in the valley, called for three days of calm.
They have called for a strike and further protests on Friday in the region, where the anti-Indian insurgency has claimed more than 43,000 lives by official count.
The dispute has become a political football, with the Congress-led government in New Delhi accusing India's main opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party of fuelling tensions in Kashmir.
The row has also stoked tensions between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, which have fought two of their three wars over the region that they both claim.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has appealed for calm, but political observers say his government has little idea how to cool tensions in the scenic region.
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