Pakistan stages Kashmir rallies

Political parties and religious groups across Pakistan are holding rallies in support of the separatist movement in Kashmir. And in his first public speech since release from house arrest, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the head of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, is set to address one 'Kashmir Solidarity' rally in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on Friday. Jamaat-ud-Dawa has been accused of being a political front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba network - the group blamed by India for the 2008 attacks on Mumbai in which gunmen killed more than 160 people. Saeed denies involvement and was released in June by a Lahore court which found insufficient evidence for his continued detention. "It is an attempt to try and muster support within Pakistan and to try and capitalise on the anti-American sentiment that is growing in this particular part of the world. "It will be an opportunity for Saeed to be able to rally the people behind him, and of course on the self-determination of the Kashmiri people," he said. Indian troops sealed off neighbourhoods in Srinagar, the capital of Indian-administered Kashmir, on Friday and arrested dozens of activists to block planned protests over the death of a Muslim boy. The 14-year-old child was struck by a teargas shell fired by police on Sunday during a separatist demonstration. His death has sparked days of angry protests against Indian rule over the region. More than 150 protesters and policemen have been injured in clashes. Kashmiri separatists have been holding regular rallies, which often turn violent, since 2008. More than 60 protesters have died in  the protests since then, most of them as a result of police firing.