Army deploys thousands more troops to Kashmir

By Ashok Pahalwan

JAMMU, India (Reuters) - The Indian army is deploying around 10,000 extra soldiers in Kashmir to quell weeks of protests over land for a Hindu shrine that had sparked some of the state's worst religious riots in two decades.

The troops will be deployed around the winter capital of Jammu, a Hindu-dominated region in Muslim-majority Kashmir where thousands of people have been protesting to demand the transfer of about 100 acres of land to a Hindu shrine trust.

The dispute began after the Kashmir government had promised to give forest land to the trust that runs Amarnath, a cave shrine visited by Hindu pilgrims. Many Muslims were enraged.

The government then backed down on its decision. Many Hindus, in turn, were angered.

"This troop strength is in addition to large contingents of paramilitary forces and police already deployed to contain the unrest", a senior army officer, asking not to be named, told Reuters.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the disputed Himalayan region since a Muslim separatist revolt against Indian rule broke out in 1989. But the latest protests in Jammu have highlighted the grievances of the minority Hindus in the state.

The city of Jammu has been under curfew for most of the week, leading to shortages of basic supplies from food to medicine.

"We can't understand what logic government has in continuing with this curfew when they have failed to contain the protests", asks Virender Sethi, a shop worker.