While the Shi'ite Ashura [2] festivals went off peacefully in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir this year, there were riots on the Indian side of the Line of Control. Islamabad's official Associated Press of Pakistan [3] writes Jan. 21 that "[T]he occupying Indian troops subjected hundreds of mourners to brute force in Srinagar and several other places in the held state to prevent them from taking out Ashura procession." India's NDTV [4] reports that incidents of "stone-pelting" erupted after police tried to break up "clashes...between members of the Shia and Sunni communities...after a Shia procession was taken out in Gojwara, which is a predominantly Sunni area." The Srinagar-based Greater Kashmir News Network [5] reports Jan. 24 that ten detainees in the city are on hunger strike to protest their failure to be brought before a magistrate.
