SRINAGAR: The death of a student killed by troops in India-held Kashmir sparked new anti-India demonstrations on Wednesday.

Hundreds of students and villagers joined a rallyin the town of Shopian, south of Srinagar, during the funeral of Adil Farooq Magray.

The teenager suffered a fatal wound to the chest late on Tuesday when security forces opened fire to disperse protesters trying to disrupt an anti-militant operation in Shopian, sources said.

More than 100 people, many students among them, have been killed in the disputed Himalayan region since July last year, when a leading militant commander was killed.

Anti-India sentiments run deep and militant groups have since 1989 been fighting hundreds of thousands of Indian soldiers deployed in the disputed region, demanding independence or a merger with Pakistan.

Meanwhile, India`s permanent representative at the UN, Rajiv K. Chander, blamed Pakistan for the unrest and instability in the disputed region at the 35th session of the world body`s Human Rights Council.

`The central problem in Jammu and Kashmir is cross-border terrorism and Pakistan`s use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy,` he alleged.

Last month the Pakistani delegation had raised the Kashmir issue at the forum and caHedfor a ban on the use of pellet guns by Indian forces. It had also asked India to allow a UNHCR team to visit the disputed region and review the situation there. -Agencies