SRINAGAR, INDIA, Aug 24, Reuter: An elderly woman was wounded and several people suffered lesser injuries when police opened fire and used tear gas to halt clashes between rival Moslems in Srinagar on Wednesday, eyewitnesses said.
Police had imposed a curfew on Non Shite Moslems to prevent a repetition of clashes with Sunni Moslems during a traditional Shiite procession through the town in the Northwest Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir.
They fired in the air and used tear gas to clear the streets after the procession was stoned.
People rushed from their houses to protest at the action and police shot at them, the eyewitnesses said The old woman was wounded in the leg as she was buying milk, the added,
Tension between the two sects increased last weekend, when Sunnis accused Shias of celebrating the death in a suspicious plane crash of Pakistani President Mohammad ZiaulHaq.
Shias denied the charge, saying they were celebrating the start of the ceasefire last Saturday in the Iran Iraq war.
Four people were killed in protests last weekend mourning Zia’s death.
Srinagar is the summer capital of India’s only Moslem Majority state where New Delhi’s rule is disputed by Pakistan.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 26, 1988
