Asia

Indian forces arrest more than 1,000 protesters in Kashmir

Associated Press
Published | Updated

Barbers trim the hair of Kashmiri men wounded by pellets during the recent unrest outside a hospital in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Monday, Aug. 8, 2016. Protests and curfew continue across the valley amidst outrage over the killing of a top rebel leader by Indian troops in early July, 2016. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) (The Associated Press)

Kashmiri Muslim attendants of patients wait to receive rice distributed outside Kashmir's main hospital in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Monday, Aug. 8, 2016. Protests and curfew continue across the valley amidst outrage over the killing of a top rebel leader by Indian troops in early July, 2016. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) (The Associated Press)

Kashmiri volunteers distribute vegetables to residents on wholesale rates inside a mosque complex during a curfew in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Monday, Aug. 8, 2016. Protests and curfew continue across the valley amidst outrage over the killing of a top rebel leader by Indian troops in early July, 2016. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) (The Associated Press)

Police say Indian forces have arrested more than a thousand protesters in Indian-controlled Kashmir in an attempt to stem violent demonstrations in the Himalayan region.

Inspector-General Syed Javaid Mujtaba Gillani said the arrests were made over the past two weeks in a bid to end a month of protests in which more than 55 civilians and two policemen have been killed and thousands injured.

Kashmir has been under a security lockdown and curfew since the killing of a popular rebel commander on July 8 sparked some of the largest protests against Indian rule in recent years.

Meanwhile in New Delhi, opposition lawmakers on Monday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence over the situation in Kashmir and demanded that the government take political steps to defuse the crisis.