SRINAGAR: The streets of Indian Kashmir’s biggest city were largely deserted yesterday with police and soldiers quickly dispersing what few small groups of protesters dared to defy a curfew to demand an end to Indian rule in the Himalayan region.

Unrest has roiled Kashmir since June, leaving at least 40 people dead, including five killed in the past two days when soldiers and police fired at Muslim protesters pressing for India to quit the region. The latest death came yesterday when a man shot and wounded during a protest a day earlier succumbed to his injuries, according a police official.

He was one of 38 people with bullet wounds hospitalized following Monday’s protests in Srinagar, the main city in India’s part of Kashmir. The government of India’s Jammu and Kashmir state said in a statement that soldiers opened fire Monday after protesters shot at them, wounding two soldiers and two police officers. At least 17 protesters were believed to have been wounded.

But separatist groups organizing the protests have repeatedly said such accusations are an attempt by authorities to justify the use of force against unarmed civilians. “India has no reason to clamp down on peaceful protests,” Masarat Aalam, a prominent separatist leader, said yesterday.

Defense Minister A.K. Antony said yesterday that “restraint” was need of the moment as the continuing agitation in Kashmir was directly linked with security of the country. “You know very well the situation is a matter of concern to us. In the rest of the country, there can be political debates. But in Kashmir, we are playing with security of the nation. Therefore we have to keep restraint,” he said.

Asserting that the government was making “all-out effort” to bring normalcy, Antony said that the task at hand was difficult. He called on the agitators to maintain restraint.

With input from Nilofar Suhrawardy.