Most of the deaths were in police firing. While locals say the protests are spontaneous, the Indian government has blamed Lashkar-e-Taiba. The demonstrations are the biggest since 2008 when violent anti-India protests killed about 40 people. "The Indian government doesn't want a repeat of what happened in 2008 when it was deeply embarrassed, which is why they have called in the army to damage-control early on," said Noor Ahmad Baba, dean of social science at Kashmir University.
The violence could hurt a tentative peace process since the Mumbai attacks. Many analysts say the latest protests stem in part from frustrations among the youth against the failure of the government to generate employment and weed out corruption. A survey carried out in May by Chatham House, a UK-based think tank, found that 87 percent of the people of the region felt unemployment was their biggest issue, followed by corruption, economic development and human rights.
On Wednesday, armoured vehicles and soldiers in riot battle gear patrolled deserted occupied Srinagar streets, some of which were covered with "Go India Go Back" grafitti. Police equipped with assault rifles blocked off lanes with razor wire and iron barricades. But thousands of people took to the streets in rural areas of the held valley to protest against the latest killings, police said.