Policemen take position against demonstrators throwing stones during a protest march in Srinagar on Monday. (Reuters)

Mirgund (Baramulla), Aug. 11: Key separatist leader Sheikh Abdul Aziz and four others died when police opened fire on a swelling procession that rumbled towards the Line of Control in a bid to get around an alleged economic blockade in Jammu.

The jittery state administration was forced to clamp curfew in Srinagar, an option it was unwilling to consider even in the most extreme circumstances, lest it indicate Kashmir is sliding back to the grim situation of the nineties.

A 160km stretch of the road from Anantnag in south Kashmir to the Line of Control at Uri in the north was almost impregnable with thousands of security personnel keeping a close vigil. But that did not stop a sea of people from trying to march from several points to Muzaffarabad to rally behind the call of fruit-growers against the alleged blockade.

Protests in Jammu against the revocation of the Amarnath land transfer order have severely curbed trade from Kashmir. As a result, the traders had threatened to sell in Pakistan-held territory goods they said were rotting because of the blockade.

Aziz, 54, who was among the top seven leaders in the Hurriyat executive, was leading a 1-lakh strong procession from Sopore — the one that created the maximum problem for the administration which is now run by the governor.

The march was fired on at Sangrama, 4km from the starting point, leaving one person dead and several injured. But braving bullets and barricades, the protesters pressed ahead towards the LoC, 38km away.

By the time the procession reached Chehel, 10km further ahead, the number had touched 1.5 lakh, fed by people on foot, trucks, buses and tractors.

Sheikh Ghulam Rasool, a lawyer who travelled 28km to join the procession, said the procession came under fire at Chehel. “I was determined to go. Then there was firing but we stood our ground. Minutes later, vehicles started returning, carrying the injured and perhaps the dead,” said Rasool.

Sources said Aziz was hit in the police firing and was removed to the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences where he succumbed to the bullet injury.

As news of Aziz’s death spread, the Srinagar administration shrugged off its reluctance and imposed the curfew. “The curfew was imposed as a precautionary measure. There were some violent incidents and we thought that it was necessary to clamp curfew for public good”, said the DIG, central Kashmir, Mohammad Subhan Lone.

The sources said the army was alerted after the police failed to control the situation. The army dug up the road at Chehel to make it non-motorable.

The authorities have handed over the 38km road from Chehel to Kaman bridge, the last post on the LoC in Uri, to the army. “The army has sealed the entire belt and erected barricades to prevent people from reaching Uri,” a police officer said.

The authorities had earlier launched a crackdown on fruit-growers and separatist leaders, arresting more than 100 to prevent them from joining the march.

“Muzaffarabad chalo is basically a call for economic independence. People in Kashmir think that the fundamentalists can choke our supply lines any time. They want to have an alternative route so that they can have access to other markets,” said Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, the chairman of the moderate Hurriyat Conference.