Authorities moved to placate separatist Moslem militants Monday by dissolving the legislative assembly of Jammu-Kashmir state and acknowledging that the 1987 polls in which it was elected might have been rigged. Also Monday, at least three people were killed and six injured in confrontations between security forces and Moslem protesters agitating for the secession of the Kashmir valley from Hindu-majority India. State Gov. Jagmohan said the Jammu-Kashmir assembly was being dissolved because it had ``lost its representative character.'' The move clears the way for new elections to the assembly, which could form the basis for making peace overtures to the militants. Many of the militants say they were members of political parties earlier, and began agitating for an independent nation after what they claim was widespread rigging during the 1987 elections. ``It has been alleged that in 1987 some vested interests had rigged the election,'' Jagmohan said in a statement issued in Srinagar. In those elections, Farooq Abdullah was voted the chief minister, the top elected post in the state administration, for a five-year term. Abdullah resigned from the post on Jan. 19 to protest the appointment of Jagmohan as governor of the state. Jagmohan, a Hindu who uses one name, has said that quelling militant violence and holding new elections is the only way to defuse the separatist movement in the Moslem-majority state. Police reported at least three deaths Monday as Moslem crowds violated curfew orders in two towns in the valley. Police officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said two people were killed and six injured when police opened fire to control a rioting mob in the town of Bijbehara, 30 miles southeast of Srinagar. One person was killed in the town of Shopian, 33 miles south of Srinagar, in another incident of police firing, they said. The deaths raise to at least 103 the number of people killed since authorities launched a crackdown on the Moslem movement on Jan. 20. Most of the victims have been protesters killed in police firing on curfew violators. The movement for secession of Kashmir from India is at least four decades old, but has flared in recent months. The state of Jammu-Kashmir, which includes the valley and the plains of Jammu to the south, is India's only Moslem-majority state. India and Pakistan have both claimed Kashmir since the Indian subcontinent was divided along religious lines after gaining independence from Britain in 1947. The countries have fought two wars over Kashmir, and Pakistan occupies a slice of the valley. A U.N.-monitored cease-fire line divides the valley into Indian and Pakistani sectors. India accuses Pakistan of fomenting the trouble in Kashmir. Islamabad denies the charge but says the Kashmri people have a right to self-determination. About 64 percent of Jammu-Kashmir's 6 million people are Moslem. Nationwide, Moslems comprise 12 percent of the 880 million population. Hindus make up 82 percent.
