Wave of killings triggers memories of dark past in Kashmir

By AIJAZ HUSSAIN
Associated Press

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — A spate of recent killings has rattled Indian-controlled Kashmir, with violence targeting local minority members and Indian civilians from outside the disputed region. The targeted killings have led to widespread unease, particularly among the region’s religious minority Hindus, most of whom fled Kashmir after an anti-India rebellion erupted in 1989. Hundreds of migrant workers and nearly 1,800 local Hindus who had returned to the region after 2010 as part of a government resettlement plan left the Kashmir Valley after the killings. Local minority leaders and experts say the spike in tensions in the region is a consequence of rising communal friction in India and New Delhi’s heavy-handed approach to control the Muslim population.