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Kashmir lockdown targets separatist rally

  • Story Highlights
  • Hundreds of police and paramilitary troops enforced tight security Kashmir
  • Lockdown aimed at preventing separatists from staging a rally
  • Violence in the divided Himalayan region has flared in recent months
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SRINAGAR, Indian-Controlled Kashmir (CNN) -- Hundreds of police and paramilitary troops enforced tight security in Indian-controlled Kashmir Friday to prevent separatists from staging a rally amid renewed violence in the divided Himalayan region.

"We have enforced security restrictions, and we won't allow anyone to violate them," a senior police officer said.

Shops and businesses, banks, schools and government buildings in Srinagar and other towns were closed for the second day, while vehicles were kept off roads.

Hundreds of thousands of people have attended four previous marches organized by separatists with Indian authorities detained several rebel leaders.

Violence in the past four months has left more than 45 dead and hundreds wounded in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir, which has been in the throes of a bloody separatist campaign.

Kashmir is divided between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan and claimed by both. Many Kashmiris want independence with Kashmir or a merger with Pakistan.

The region also has recently been beset by violence triggered by a row over a Hindu shrine.

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