NEW DELHI (AFP) Three months since a summer of discontent began, New Delhi is groping for a response in Indian-held Kashmir, where 87 protesters have died in what many see as a new phase of a 60-year conflict. A frustrated new generation of stone-throwing Kashmiris has become the focus of resistance to Indian rule, superseding the freedom fighters who made the region one of the most dangerous places on Earth in the 1990s. Speaking to editors last week, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh admitted that the government was unsure of how to respond to an outpouring of anger which has echoes of past Palestinian intifadas. The government was groping for a response, he said candidly, according to the Times of India. But there is no royal road to success. I cant pull a rabbit out of a hat. Many before him have tried and failed, producing a deadlock that dates back to the partition of the subcontinent in 1947. Singh, who admits the young people there have grievances that need to be addressed, called his cabinet together Monday for a meeting to discuss measures to defuse the tension. They decided against one widely mooted step - partially withdrawing unpopular emergency laws that have covered the territory for the last 20 years - and instead called an all-party meeting of political groups. Professor Radha Kumar from the independent Delhi Policy Group said there was consternation at the highest level of government, but a lack of direction. There is a sense of 'how do we as a democracy deal with this? That is part of the reason why we have seen such confusion and a sort of paralysis, she told AFP. For two decades, an anti-Indian struggle raged in Kashmir, claiming 47,000 lives and fuelling attacks in India, most notably a siege at the Indian parliament in 2001 that almost sparked a regional war. But violence has since fallen to its lowest level since 1990 and New Delhi estimates there are now merely 500 freedom fighters active in the region, a fraction of the thousands previously. For the first time, more people have died at the hands of the security forces this year than in militant attacks. The core protesters, mostly young men who use Facebook and YouTube to spread their message, have used stones to hit the security forces, with many saying they are prepared to die for the cause. I think its the most serious problem confronting New Delhi since the start of insurgency some 20 years ago, says Noor Ahmed Baba, a political science professor at IHKs main university. The protests are indigenous, mass-based and widespread and there is no external element involved, he said. In New Delhi, the government initially tried to paint the protesters as paid by Pakistan. But most ministers now accept a new narrative in which frustration has reached crisis point. But what can be done? Observers agree that police have a duty to protect public property, but many are critical of the use of live ammunition on crowds and the lack of training. The police and CRPF (a paramilitary force) have not been equipped with non-lethal weapons and this has caused a lot of unfortunate casualties, said BG Verghese, an associate of the Centre for Policy Research think-tank.