TOPSHOTS-INDIA-KASHMIR-UNREST-ELECTRICITY

TOPSHOTS A Kashmiri street vendor warms his hands as he sells peanuts under candlelight on a street in Srinagar on January 2, 2012. Security forces in Indian Kashmir opened fire and killed a protester during a demonstration by hundreds of residents angry about mid-winter power cuts, police said. The incident took place in northern Boniyar village, a 90-minute drive from the main city of Srinagar in the Muslim-majority region in northwestern India that is reeling from a severe cold snap. Temperatures of minus 14 degrees Celsius (seven degrees Fahrenheit) have led lakes to freeze and rivers to run lower than usual, causing difficulties for the hydroelectric projects that provide 70 percent of local power. Electricity generation is controversial in Kashmir, where many locals resent the NHPC because it harnesses local mountain rivers to generate power but sells much of it to the rest of India. AFP PHOTO/ TAUSEEF MUSTAFA