Kashmir hit by renewed protests

Protests still continued even though shops and businesses re-opened

Students in Indian-administered Kashmir have held further demonstrations to protest against the alleged rape and killing of two women.

Their protests took place as businesses re-opened after a separatist leader called for an end to eight days of strikes, which paralysed the Valley.

Protesters accuse paramilitary forces of raping and killing the women.

They deny the charges, but recent forensic tests have confirmed that the women were raped.

Protests have raged throughout the Kashmir Valley since 30 May.

'Undercover' report

The BBC's Altaf Hussain in Srinagar says that police used teargas to disperse hundreds of students in the southern district of Pulwama who were marching towards the neighbouring town of Shopian where the two women were from.

The rapes and murders have caused much anger

Six students were injured in Tuesday's violence, our correspondent adds.

The police fired teargas shells to break up other demonstrations in Srinagar and the towns of Anantnag, Sopore, Handwara and Baramullah.

The protesters chanted slogans against Indian rule and demanded that those responsible for the rapes be brought to justice.

Meanwhile the Kashmir High Court Bar Association, an association of lawyers, has released an interim report of its own investigation into the attacks.

Police did not allow the lawyers into the town of Shopian but some did manage to get in undercover. They said they managed to conduct interviews in the town.

The report, which is not an official document, said that one of the girls - a minor - was raped even after her death, while the other victim bore marks on her wrist indicating that she had been tied down before being gang raped.

It accused police of interfering with various aspects of the investigation. The police has not as yet responded to the accusations.

The report also demands the resignation of the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, for saying that initial findings did not indicate rape or murder.

Shops, businesses, schools, colleges and government offices re- opened throughout the Kashmir Valley on Tuesday.

Most separatist leaders were arrested after the protests over the incident began and some - such as Mirwaiz Umar Farooq - remain under house-arrest.

The bodies of the two young women were found in a canal in the town of Shopian on 30 May. They had gone missing the previous evening.

The cause of their deaths is still being investigated, but police say a post-mortem examination shows they were raped.