SRINAGAR, Kashmir (Reuters) - About a dozen spectators were detained in Indian Kashmir for shouting pro-Pakistan slogans at a soccer match aimed at generating goodwill and ending alienation among locals, police said on Monday.
Those detained were among 5,000 people who had come to watch Sunday's final of the Indian national soccer championship, a rare major sporting event held in the violence-racked region.
They shouted "we want freedom, long live Pakistan" before police led them away, a senior police official told Reuters.
"Ten persons have been detained for provocative sloganeering and for inciting others," said the official, who asked not to be identified.
A number of Muslim militant groups are fighting Indian security forces in the region, seeking either Kashmiri independence or the merger of India's only Muslim majority state with Pakistan.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in violence involving Indian troops and separatist militants since a bloody insurgency against New Delhi's rule erupted in 1989.
Violence has dipped since India and Pakistan began a peace process in 2004.
Those detained were among 5,000 people who had come to watch Sunday's final of the Indian national soccer championship, a rare major sporting event held in the violence-racked region.
They shouted "we want freedom, long live Pakistan" before police led them away, a senior police official told Reuters.
"Ten persons have been detained for provocative sloganeering and for inciting others," said the official, who asked not to be identified.
A number of Muslim militant groups are fighting Indian security forces in the region, seeking either Kashmiri independence or the merger of India's only Muslim majority state with Pakistan.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in violence involving Indian troops and separatist militants since a bloody insurgency against New Delhi's rule erupted in 1989.
Violence has dipped since India and Pakistan began a peace process in 2004.
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