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In Kashmir, Two Killings Amid Tangles of Fear, Loyalty

by Associated Press

   HAJIN, INDIA --

   The first man disappeared Monday night, when gunmen stormed his
   in-law's home in small-town Kashmir. The second disappeared two nights
   later when the gunmen came back.

   The first was shot to death by anti-India militants, police say. The
   second was beheaded.

   In Indian-controlled Kashmir, where the deaths of civilians regularly
   spark waves of anti-India protests, there hasn't been a whisper of
   public anger over the two killings, which happened on the rural fringes
   of the town of Hajin. That silence is, almost always, a signal that
   militants were involved.

   No rebel group has claimed responsibility for the deaths of the men,
   both of whom were about 25, but police are sure who was behind them.

   "The two men were innocent and had nothing to do with anything," said
   police officer Sheikh Zulfikar Azad. "These (killings) have been done
   to spread fear in the area."

   Accused of informing

   Kashmiris make no secret of their fury at killings by government
   forces, which regularly trigger bloody protests and demands for "azadi"
   -- freedom -- from Indian rule. But the reactions are far more
   complicated, tangled in fear and loyalty, when villagers accused of
   being informers are targeted. Many militants come from places like
   Hajin, and most Kashmiris support, at least in general terms, the
   rebels' goals.

   No one in Hajin would speak openly about what happened to the men,
   fearing reprisals from both sides in the decades-old fight. But their
   neighbors said both had been warned earlier by militants to stop
   working with government soldiers. The brother-in-law of one of the men
   was killed by militants last year, accused of being an informer for the
   Indian military.

   "Several people have been picked up (by militants) in the last few
   years and let go after warnings," said one local man, speaking on
   condition of anonymity, fearing for his safety. He said most are freed
   after being beaten.

   'Nearly 70,000 dead

   Anti-India sentiment runs deep in Kashmir, which in recent years has
   seen renewed rebel attacks and repeated public protests against Indian
   rule. Rebels have been fighting India since 1989, demanding Kashmir be
   made part of Pakistan or become an independent country. India accuses
   Pakistan of arming and training the rebels, a charge Pakistan denies.

   Nearly 70,000 people have been killed in relentless cycles of revolt
   and military crackdown.

   India and Pakistan each control part of Kashmir, but both claim it in
   its entirety.

   The Hajin killings came amid days of widespread protests and clashes
   against Indian presence, after the Sunday deaths of 13 rebels and four
   civilians. On Friday, the protests continued in many Kashmiri towns
   despite a security lockdown, and most shops and business remained
   closed.

   'Attacks at night

   Police say that Monday night, three armed men barged into the home of
   Naseer Ahmed's in-laws in a Hajin neighborhood, shooting
   indiscriminately and wounding three family members. They were looking
   for Naseer, a part-time driver who also ran a tea stall, whom they
   quickly dragged away. His bullet-riddled body was found the next day.

   Two days later, police say the same men came back, storming into the
   home of Abdul Gaffar, who was shot but survived. His son Manzoor Ahmed,
   a laborer and shepherd who tends flocks of sheep, was taken away. His
   headless body was found Friday.

   Gaffar, recovering from his injuries, said only that "unknown gunmen"
   had taken his son.

   Hajin has faced more than its share of bloodshed.

   In the 1990s, it became a center of pro-India counterinsurgent groups,
   armed and funded by the Indian army when the anti-India armed uprising
   was at its peak. According to police records, at least 28 militants
   have been killed by Indian troops during dozens of raids. Several
   civilians have also been killed in anti-India protests.

   On Friday, though, with two of its men dead, Hajin was quiet.