Protesters manhandle parliamentarian in Indian-controlled Kashmir, set ablaze vehicle

Protesters in Indian-controlled Kashmir Saturday manhandled a pro- India leader and member of Indian parliament Nazir Ahmad Laway and set ablaze vehicle in his cavalcade, police said.

Laway was attacked while on tour to village Bugam in Kulgam district, about 70 kilometers south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

"The parliament member Nazir Ahmad Laway was today attacked by a mob during his visit to a local school," an official told Xinhua. " On seeing Laway, people, mostly youth, rushed toward his vehicle raising anti-India slogans, throwing stones and manhandling him along with his security men."

Police fired warning shots and dozens of tear smoke shells to disperse the mob and whisked away Laway from the spot.

However,several vehicles in his cavalcade were damaged and a vehicle was torched by the angry mob, reports said.

According to locals, clashes in the village continued for several hours.

During the last year's local elections, the village boycotted elections as none of the 8,000 voters in the village exercised their franchise, a newspaper report said.

Anti-India sentiment runs deep in the psyche of majority of Kashmiris. A separatist movement and guerrilla war challenging New Delhi's rule is going on in Indian-controlled Kashmir since 1989.

Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan is claimed by both in full. Since their independence from Britain, the two countries have fought three wars, two exclusively over Kashmir.