Strike in Kashmir over execution

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A general strike is being observed in Indian-administered Kashmir amid warnings that a planned execution may threaten the region's peace process.

Police have again fired teargas to disperse protests three days after a date was set to execute a Kashmiri man.

Mohammed Afzal is due to be executed on 20 October for his role in an attack on the Indian parliament in 2001.

The strike was called by hardline separatists, but moderate politicians are also seeking a stay of the hanging.

Protests have been led by a number of separatist leaders opposed to Indian rule.

The chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Mohammad Yasin Malik, led thousands in a procession in Mohammed Afzal's hometown of Sopre.

Police have placed several prominent leaders, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Shabir Shah, under house arrest during the protests.

The leader of Jammu and Kashmir state's main opposition National Conference party, Omar Abdullah, said Mohammed Afzal's planned execution could harm the ongoing peace process.

Mr Abdullah has called for a review of the sentence.

Clemency appeal

Similar views have been expressed by the leader of the moderate faction of the separatist All-Party Hurriyat Conference.

The Supreme Court has upheld Mr Afzal's conviction

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said a death sentence in the 21st Century was "inhuman, immoral and barbarous".

Meanwhile, a leading newspaper in the state, Greater Kashmir, reports that Kashmir's chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has asked Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to help Mohammed Afzal get clemency from the Indian president.

There is, however, no official confirmation of the report.

Mohammed Afzal's lawyer, Kamini Jaiswal, has said her client will appeal to the Indian president - his last option for a reprieve.

In the Indian parliament attack in December 2001, five gunmen shot dead nine people in the parliament grounds before being killed.

If Mohammed Afzal is executed as planned, he will be the second Kashmiri to be hanged for separatist activities.

In 1984, the founder leader of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Mohammad Maqbool Bhat, was hanged on charges of killing an Indian intelligence official.