After India and Pakistan's independence from Britain, villagers around the city of Poonch began an armed protest at the continued rule of Maharaja Hari Singh on 17 August 1947. In view of the Poonch uprising, certain Pashtun tribes such as the Mehsuds and Afridis from the mountainous region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan, with the backing of the Pakistani government, entered the Kashmir valley to capture it on 22 October 1947. The Maharaja, who had refused to accede to either India or Pakistan in hopes of securing his own independent state, signed the Instrument of Accession to India in exchange for refuge on 26 October 1947, as Pakistani-backed tribesmen approached the outskirts of Srinagar. The accession was accepted by India the next day. The government of India immediately airlifted Indian Army troops to Srinagar, who engaged the tribesmen and prevented them from reaching the city. In 1989, Srinagar became the focus of the insurgency against Indian rule. The area continues to be a highly politicised hotbed of separatist activity with frequent spontaneous protests and strikes ("bandhs" in local parlance). On 19 January 1990, the Gawakadal massacre of at least 50 unarmed protestors by Indian forces, and up to 280 by some estimates from eyewitness accounts, set the stage for bomb blasts, shootouts, and curfews that characterised Srinagar throughout the early and mid-1990s. Further massacres in the spring of 1990 in which 51 allegedly unarmed protesters were allegedly killed by Indian security forces in Zakura and Tengpora heightened anti-Indian sentiments in Srinagar. As a result, bunkers and checkpoints are found throughout the city, although their numbers have come down in the past few years as militancy has declined. However, frequent protests still occur against Indian rule, such as the 22 August 2008 rally in which hundreds of thousands of Kashmiri civilians protested against Indian rule in Srinagar. Similar protests took place every summer for the next 4 years. In 2010 alone 120 protesters, many of whom were stone pelters and arsonists, were killed by police and CRPF. Large scale protests were seen following the execution of Afzal Guru in February 2013. In 2016, after the death of militant Burhan Wani a militant leader, there were mass unrest in the valley and about 87 protesters were killed by Indian Army, CRPF and police in the 2016 Kashmir unrest. The city also saw increased violence against minorities, particularly the Hindu Kashmiri Pandits, starting from mid-1980s and resulting in their ultimate exodus.