Indian police have opened fire on Muslim protestors in Kashmir, as a land row with Hindus threatened to explode. At least 12 people died on a second day of protests, as police struggled to impose control. Muslims accuse Hindus of putting up an economic blockade, which has forced some Muslim traders to sell over the border in Pakistan. The row threatens to stoke Muslim calls for independence from India. Indian Kashmir is split between the Muslim-dominated Kashmir Valley and the Hindu-led region around Jammu City.

Four people killed yesterday included a local sheikh. The clashes soured relations between the sub-continent’s two nuclear powers. Pakistan condemned the Indian police action as excessive and unwarranted, prompting an angry response from New Delhi.

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