http://www.gupistan.com/gallery/1/looon.jpg
Mr Lone (centre) was a moderate among the separatists
The volatile Indian-administered state of Kashmir has been rocked by the killing of one of its leading politicians.
Abdul Ghani Lone, of Kashmir’s main separatist alliance, the All Party Hurriyat Conference, was shot while speaking at a rally in the city of Srinagar.
The killing came just before Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee arrived in the region to visit survivors of an attack by militants last week that left more than 30 people dead.
There are growing fears that India will start a war against Pakistan who it blames for backing the militants in Kashmir.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is to visit the region next week in a bid to ease tensions between the two nuclear rivals.
Masked men
Mr Lone and a bodyguard were shot dead while attending a ceremony commemorating the assassination of a Kashmiri leader, witnesses said.
Three masked men are said to have approached him and opened fire.
The gunmen have not yet been identified and no one has admitted carrying out the attack.
Mr Lone was taken to a hospital in Srinagar, but was found to be dead on arrival, reports say.
The BBC’s Altaf Hussain in Srinagar says the killing appears to have derailed an expected peace initiative by Mr Vajpayee.
Mr Lone was seen as a moderate who wanted talks with the Indian Government over his demands for a separate Kashmir state.
Indian Kashmir’s Chief Minister, Farooq Abdullah said the attack was the work of the government in Islamabad.
“Whoever wants a peaceful solution in Kashmir is killed by Pakistan,” he said, the AFP news agency reports.
But the Pakistan Government was quick to condemn the attack, describing his murder as a setback to the peace process.
Three militant groups in the area have blamed the attack on the Indian secret services.
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