SRINAGAR: A prominent pro-independence leader in Indian Kashmir on Saturday condemned the killing of Moamer Qaddafi, saying the fallen Libyan dictator had been a “friend” and supporter of Kashmiris. “In his death, the people of Kashmir have lost their friend,” Yasin Malik, chairman of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), said in a statement. A marathon United Nations diatribe by Qaddafi in September 2009 annoyed India but won him an enthusiastic fan base in Indian-administered Kashmir. Qaddafi berated Western powers for an hour and 35 minutes from the General Assembly podium in a speech covering issues as diverse as John F. Kennedy’s assassination, swine flu and his support for Kashmiri independence. “Kashmir should be an independent state, not Indian, not Pakistani. We should end this conflict,” Qaddafi told the UN assembly. His remarks were splashed across the front pages of Kashmir’s leading dailies, as the region’s separatist leaders applauded. Malik’s JKLF wan