UPDATE 1-Kashmir short of essentials after highway blockade

(Adds deaths, hunger strike)

By Sheikh Mushtaq

SRINAGAR, India, Aug 5 (Reuters) - India's Muslim-majority Kashmir valley was running short of food, fuel and medical supplies after Hindu protesters blocked traffic on Tuesday on the main highway during protests that have killed two policemen.

Hindus in Kashmir's winter capital of Jammu, protesting against the state government for backing down on transferring forest land to a Hindu shrine trust, have attacked lorries carrying essential supplies to the Kashmir valley.

Police said two policemen were killed when several thousand protestors attacked a security post in Jorian area of Jammu. Angry protestors also uprooted nearly a mile of railway tracks.

More than 40 people, including 11 policemen were injured in clashes across the region.

Trader associations said lorries loaded with vital goods like medicines, vegetables, meat and fuel were stranded on the region's main 300-km (185 mile) highway, the only surface link between the Kashmir valley and the rest of India.

The controversy over the issue of land for a Hindu trust has polarised Indian Kashmir, split between the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley and the Hindu-dominated region around Jammu.

The Kashmir government had planned to transfer land to build shelters for Hindu pilgrims visiting Amarnath, a cave shrine, to pray by a sacred ice stalagmite. Faced with huge Muslim protests, it rescinded the order, sparking Hindu demonstrations.