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India PM inaugurates Kashmir train amid curfew

  • Story Highlights
  • Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrives in Kashmir amid violent protests
  • Two youths killed, 30 injured in clashes with police
  • Singh says he's willing to meet with any separatist group
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By Mukhtar Ahmad
CNN
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SRINAGAR, Indian-Controlled Kashmir (CNN) -- Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated the first intra-Kashmir train Saturday, even as police and paramilitary enforced an undeclared curfew in parts of Srinagar, the capital of Indian-administered Kashmir.

A day earlier, two youths were killed and more than 30 were injured in clashes between anti-India protesters and Indian security forces. Separatists called for a strike against the prime minister's two-day visit to the state.

Indian police shot at the crowd to quell the protests staged by angry youths shouting anti-India and pro-freedom slogans in the downtown Nowhatta area of Srinagar.

Fearing more trouble with the prime minister in town, authorities instituted heightened security restrictions in parts of the city overnight.

Singh arrived in Srinagar Friday afternoon. Describing Kashmir as an integral part of India, Singh told a news conference later in the day that his government was "ready to hold talks with anyone having any grievance or complaint."

Singh advocated strengthening friendly relations with India's nuclear neighbor, Pakistan, saying "borders cannot be redrawn, though these can be made irrelevant."

The prime minister said his government was ready to hold talks with any section of public opinion.

"If any separatist group wants to meet us, we are ready," he said. "I have already met them earlier."

Singh said the start of trade across the Line of Control between the Indian- and Pakistan-administered parts of Kashmir had been a major initiative

"History will judge how big these steps were," Singh said. "The fact is that they have taken place after many lost decades of mutual recrimination, violence and war."

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