Govt sees Pakistan-based group behind Kashmir protests

A policeman patrols a road marked with graffiti by Kashmiri protesters, during a curfew in Srinagar June 30, 2010.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The government said on Wednesday a Pakistan-based militant group blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks was behind violent anti-India protests sweeping the disputed Kashmir region in which 11 people have been killed.

The anti-India demonstrations over nearly three weeks are among the biggest in two years and have spread to many parts of Kashmir, including Sopore, known as the stronghold of a hardline separatist leader.

"We think it is the LeT which is active in Sopore," Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram told reporters after a meeting called by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the spiralling street violence.

India has blamed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants for the Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people and derailed a sluggish four-year-old peace process with Pakistan. LeT was founded in 1990 to fight Indian rule in Kashmir and is based in Pakistan's Punjab province.

Divided Kashmir remains at the heart of the dispute between India and Pakistan, with both sides claiming the Himalayan region in full. They have fought two of their three wars over it.

India accuses Pakistan of fuelling unrest in Kashmir, but Islamabad says it only lends moral support to what it calls an independence movement by Kashmiris.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people since a revolt against New Delhi broke out in the scenic Himalayan region two decades ago.