SRINAGAR, INDIA, Aug 19, Reuter: Thousands of Western tourists left India’s picturesque Kashmir valley on Friday as sporadic incidents continued following violent protests marking the death of Pakistan President Mohammad Zia-Ul-Haq.
An indefinite curfew and shoot on-sight order issued in the state capital, Srinagar, and other trouble spots was still in force.
Tourists reaching New Delhi said old Srinagar City was ringed by police and completely closed down.
Police said a mob ransacked a wine shop during a brief curfew relaxation in Srinagar, demonstrators attacked security forces with stones in nearby Anantnag, and a report from Baramulla, close to the Pakistan border, said a tax office had been burnt down.
Police told tourists wishing to leave to report to a reception center and were escorted out under armed guard.
None of those returning to New Delhi reported seeing any of the violent demonstrations and police shooting which caused four deaths on Thursday.
Kashmir tourism director Mohiuddin Shah said 2,700 tourists, mainly from the United States, Britain, West Germany and Spain, were taken by bus to Srinagar airport or to other parts of the North Indian State.
As the tourists left, police said the situation was still tense in Srinagar, Anantnag and Baramulla, near the border which divides the Indian and Pakistani controlled sectors of Kashmir, India’s only Moslem-majority state.
Militant Moslems ignored curfews on Thursday to take part in processions to mourn Zia’s death in an air crash a day earlier. Their defiance forced authorities to call out troops and paramilitary forces to reinforce the police.
The troops were still deployed around vital installations in Srinagar and Anantnag, witnesses said.
There were no fresh reports from Baramulla, near the border over which India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.
Pandit said authorities had been hard pressed to contain Thursday’s shooting, which he described as “a very, very bad situation.”
“Today we have relaxed a bit,” he said.
The police chief said a curfew imposed immediately after Zia’s death was lifted on Friday morning to allow the tourists to reach the airport and for Moslem midday prayers.
But police cordoned off Srinagar’s main mosque and banned special prayers for Zia planned by Hardline Kashmiri Moslem leader Mirwaiz Moulvi Farooq.
India has nearly 100 million Moslems in a mainly Hindu population of 800 million.
Besides the Westerners, large numbers of Sadhus, Hindu holy men trekking to pilgrimage spots in the Himalayan foothills, were also evacuated and sent in buses to places outside the Kashmir valley to continue their religious journey.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 26, 1988
