(adds key coalition party withdrawing support, para 7,8) By Sheikh Mushtaq SRINAGAR, India, June 28 (Reuters) - Indian police fired bullets and teargas on Saturday in Kashmir to quell thousands of stone throwing Muslim demonstrators angry over the transfer of forest land to a Hindu shrine trust. Scores of people, including Mohammad Yasin Malik, chief of the separatist Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), were hurt when protesters clashed with police in the heart of Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital. The land-transfer protests have widened to become pro-independence rallies and are some of the biggest since a separatist Muslim insurgency broke out in 1989. Pakistan and India rule Kashmir in parts but both claim the region. In the early 1990s, tens of thousands took to streets across the region demanding Kashmir's cessation from India. "The present situation reminds me of 1990, it is all disturbing," said Omar Abdullah, chief of Kashmir's main opposition National Conference party. The week-long protests started when authorities transferred nearly 100 acres (40.47 hectares) of forest land in Kashmir to Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB), a Hindu trust, to erect temporary shelters for thousands of Hindu pilgrims who annually trek to a cave shrine in the Kashmir mountain. Protesters say the land transfer was aimed at changing the demography of Kashmir, mainly Hindu India's Muslim-majority region. Environmentalists say any construction on forest land could ruin the region's fragile ecology. Indian authorities have denied the charge. A key partner in Kashmir's ruling coalition, the People's Democratic Party (PDP), on Saturday withdrew support over the land transfer, a move that threatens to trigger early elections in the strife-torn-region. "We have decided to withdraw support to the coalition government ... we can't remain insensitive to the sufferings of the people," PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti told a news conference. Three people have been shot dead by police since protests broke out on Monday. Hundreds have been hurt in clashes. Shops, businesses, schools and colleges remained closed in Kashmir for the sixth day on Saturday to protest the land move. "Indians go back, return our land," the protesters shouted. On Friday, tens of thousands of people waving green Islamic flags took to streets in Srinagar, tore down banners, billboards of pro-India parties, destroyed security bunkers and shouted "we want freedom". JKLF, which declared a ceasefire in 1994 against Indian troops, is an influential separatist group and says it is fighting for Kashmir's freedom both from India and Pakistan. "Malik was admitted to hospital, he is safe," Mohammad Amin, a police official, said. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Kashmir in nearly two decades of insurgency. During the two-month-long pilgrimage, thousands of devout Hindus from across India walk and ride ponies to the cave, situated at an altitude of 3,800 metres (12,700 feet), to pray by an ice stalagmite they believe is a symbol of Hindu god Lord Shiva. (Editing by Mary Gabriel) (For the latest Reuters news on India see: http://in.reuters.com, for blogs see http://blogs.reuters.com/in)
Activists from India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a Hindu hardline group, shout slogans during a rally in favour of a government decision to transfer ...
