Killing Sheikh Aziz

IN an act of ruthless repression, the Indian security forces indiscriminately fired at one of the biggest protest rallies in Held Kashmir's history, with participants variously computed between 100,000 and 250,000, and shot down prominent Hurriyet leader Sheikh Abdul Aziz and several others near Uri on Monday. About 200 other protesters were injured and a similar number taken into custody. As the news of the death of Sheikh Aziz spread, hordes of incensed people came out into the streets all over the Valley, breaking curfew and other restrictions and shouting angry slogans, "We will spill blood for blood." The troops responded with bullets and teargas shells; yet the crowds chanted: "Pakistan Zindabad" and "we want freedom". Sheikh Abdul Aziz and Shabbir Shah, who was among the injured, were leading the protest; the possibility of target shooting cannot be ruled out, though. This was the third leader since 1990 that laid down his life struggling for the cause of freedom, which the Indians had promised to grant to the people of Kashmir, a promise they have shamelessly backed out of since. The earlier victims were Mirwaiz Maulvi Muhammad Farooq and Abdul Ghani Lone.