PULWAMA: Images of students confronting police on campuses have come to symbolise protests against Indian rule in India-held Kashmir as much as guntoting militants in fatigues, in what security officials and local leaders say is a dangerous new phase of conflict in the disputed Himalayan region.The sharp rise in violence in recent weeks is more spontaneous than before, complicating the task of Indian security forces trained largely in counter-militancy and poorly equipped to contain broader unrest.

A political stalemate in the India-occupied region is a further hurdle to solv-ing the long-running problem, as is Hindu nationalism that is rising in many parts of India since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014.

`We can ensure that militant numbers remain relatively low and we have stopped the weapons flow.

The bigger challenge is how to control protesters, how to engage with them,` said a senior army official.

When security forces entered a college last month in Pulwama, 30km south of Srinagar, hundreds of students threw stones at their vehicles before fighting pitched battles inside college corridors and bathrooms.

Within days, widespread protests forced most colleges and secondary schools in the region to close.

Teenaged girls took to the streets for the first time in years. At least 100 protesters were wounded.

`Every student is trying to say that we... want nothing to do with India,` a 19-year-old protester said in the backroom of a Pulwama restaurant, as securityforces clashed with locals on the outskirts of town.

He asked not to be named because his father was a policeman.

A local police chief said security forces were steering clear of campuses to avoid provoking more violence.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, leader of a moderate f action of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, said protesters were for the first time ignoring calls to stop.

`Today there is absolute hate for India. They don`t listen to anyone,` he said in Srinagar.

India`s former spy chief, A.S. Dulat, said the Kashmir situation `has never been so bad`.

Still, New Delhi has stuck to its tough line, demanding an end to violence before talking to leaders opposing Indian rule over the region.

`All these activities of stone pelting have to stop.

Then will the government consider talking,` said K.S.

Dhatwalia, a home ministry spokesman.-Reuters