Special powers for Kashmir police

NEW DELHI, India -- India is granting sweeping special powers to security forces in its part of the disputed territory of Kashmir as violence there continues to escalate.

Most of the region will now come under the "Disturbed Areas Act," giving security forces the power to arrest, detain or shoot suspected lawbreakers.

The move follows Tuesday's attack by separatist guerrillas at a railway station in Jammu city, the winter capital of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, in which 11 people died.

Indian Home Minister L K Advani is expected to formally announce the new measures in parliament Thursday.

The Disturbed Areas Act had previously covered only the majority Muslim north of the Indian-controlled state, but it will now be extended to cover the Hindu dominated south as well.

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The extension of the act follows a day of violence Wednesday between Hindus and Muslims sparked by the rail station killings and the kidnap and murder of at least 17 Hindu farmers at the weekend.

'War footing'

The station attack prompted the imposition of an indefinite curfew in Jammu in an effort to keep a lid on rising tensions.

The Chief Minister of Kashmir state, Farooq Abdullah, defended the move saying: "Security forces will now be armed with greater powers to combat militancy on a war footing in Kashmir."

He said the act would give "a sense of relief to the people [of Kashmir]."

However, human rights groups have criticized the use of the laws, which they say have led to widespread abuse by security forces and a number of deaths in custody.

The act has been in force in the north of the state since 1990 but has done little to quell the 12-year long Islamic insurgency that has left about 35,000 people dead.

Summit collapse

The rising violence in the state follows the failure of last month's Agra summit between Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan President, General Pervez Musharraff, which collapsed without the hoped-for joint-declaration on the future of Kashmir.

Since then Indian police say nearly 250 people -- including 133 militants and 94 civilians -- have been killed in escalating violence.

The first high-level contact between the two countries since the summit is set to take place later this week in Sri Lanka.

Officials are to meet informally during a meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation.

Next month Musharraf and Vajpayee are expected to hold informal talks on the sidelines of a UN General Assembly meeting in New York.

Reuters contributed to this report.