Bandh in Jammu over Sunday's massacre

      Jammu/New Delhi: Streets in Jammu wore a deserted look on Tuesday in the wake of a shutdown call by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to condemn the massacre of at least 35 Hindus on Sunday night. All the markets remained closed for the day as BJP workers moved through the streets of the city. Kashmiri Hindus, residing in New Delhi, also staged a demonstration to protest the massacre. Protestor here held the Central Government responsible for the violence, saying the government was doing nothing to stop it. "This protest is against all the massacres happening against the Hindus in Kashmir. We are protesting against the Central Government who is doing nothing to stop them," a protester said. In one of the bloodiest massacres in recent months, militants struck two remote Hindu-dominated mountainous villages in Doda district, some 170 km (100 miles) northeast of Jammu, on late Sunday night, and gunned down 22 Hindus. On Monday, bullet-ridden bodies of nine more Hindus were recovered from neighbouring Udhampur district. Police said the dead were Hindu cattle herdsmen reportedly kidnapped by suspected militants late on Sunday. However, no militant group claimed responsibility for the attacks. Witnesses of the Doda attack said the militants, some dressed in police uniforms while others in traditional Kashmiri dress - Pathan Suit- split themselves into two groups before opening fire.

     Meanwhile, the Hizbul Mujahideen, the largest Kashmiri militant group, denied any role in the attack. The incident came just ahead of crucial talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), an amalgam of two dozen Kashmiri separatist parties. The Prime Minister, who is due to meet Kashmiri separatists on Wednesday and would travel to the violent region later this month for a Kashmir "roundtable", condemned the attack. Hurriyat chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has also condemned the attack, terming it "an act of terrorism". Militant violence has increased in Kashmir in recent weeks with the onset of summer when snow melts in the region's mountain passes, allowing easier movement of militants. Tens of thousands have been killed in the Himalayan region in militancy and thousands of Hindus have fled the State over the years.

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