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Kashmir Seethes Under Indian Security Clampdown
SRINAGAR, India—As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised peace and prosperity for the disputed region of Kashmir in an Independence Day speech, Indian paramilitary forces blocked off streets in its largest city, which has been under a nearly total communications blackout for more than 10 days.
The curbs were aimed at preventing protests against the Modi government’s decision last week to end the region’s long-standing special status, which gave it a degree of autonomy. In his address in New Delhi Thursday, Mr. Modi celebrated what he described as Kashmir’s complete integration into India decades after independence from British rule in 1947.
Indian troops walking to their buses on Thursday after the end of Independence Day celebrations in the Kashmiri city of Srinagar.
Muslim-majority Kashmir is home to a separatist movement and was at the center of three wars between India and Pakistan. Indian armed forces have long maintained a heavy presence in the region and fought against a violent insurgency in the 1990s. Militants regularly clash with security personnel.
In dozens of interviews this week, many Kashmiris expressed rage and resentment against Mr. Modi and said those sentiments were growing as curbs continued. Many see the restrictions and massive deployment of security forces as a template for how New Delhi plans to govern Kashmir under the new arrangement.
“They want Kashmir, not Kashmiris,” said Manzoor Ahmad Bhat, a 65-year-old retired civil servant who dismissed Mr. Modi’s development promises as a charade. “They have silenced our voices, put us in a cage.”
Srinagar's main TV tower is seem on Srinagar's Shankracharya hill, but the Kashmir valley has been subjected to a virtual blackout of all communications.
Since Aug. 5, the government has turned off the internet and mobile-phone connectivity and blocked telephone land lines across Kashmir. Local elected leaders and dozens of other prominent figures have been placed under detention. Many parts of Srinagar are cut off with large coils of wires and armored vehicles.
Although restrictions on movement were eased on some days in some parts of the city, they have disrupted businesses and largely confined people to their homes.
Many Kashmiris predicted protests would break out when the government eases curbs, leading to bloodshed and an uptick in militant attacks. In 2016, dozens of people died in clashes between stone-throwing protesters and security forces after a popular militant was killed.
Many Kashmiris said that by scrapping Kashmir’s constitutional privilege and putting New Delhi in charge of its affairs, Mr. Modi has paved the way for nonresidents to buy land in the region, which was long prohibited, and subordinate its current inhabitants. They said they feared it was a ploy by Mr. Modi and his party, which has roots in Hindu nationalism, to change the demographic make-up of this predominately Muslim area.
The government has denied these accusations, saying the steps would end a decades-long cycle of corruption and terrorism that has stalled development.
This week in older neighborhoods of Srinagar, gun-wielding paramilitary forces were positioned every 100 yards, sometimes in large clusters, accompanied by police. The environment was tense, with rows of shops shuttered.
A man walking with his sick child as severe restrictions of movement took hold in Srinigar's Sonwar area.
Security personnel in the area said they had orders to make sure no one left their homes unless it was a medical emergency. They stopped cars passing by, seeking proof such as a visibly unwell person or hospital paperwork.
Rocks came flying toward them Wednesday afternoon, hurled by a group of young men who had defied the clampdown, one officer said. Security forces responded with sling-shots and guns that fire pellets, or birdshot, that can rip through flesh and rupture eyeballs.
Small-scale stone-pelting has occurred many times, security forces and residents said.
Muneefa Nazir was injured in her right eye when Indian security forces shot a projectile at her as she was out with her uncle in central Srinagar.
A doctor at Srinagar’s Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital said he had treated 30 people for eye injuries since Aug. 5. The numbers were smaller than past spasms of unrest because of the exceptional curbs, he said. “But sooner or later, it will get bad, very bad,” said the doctor, adding: “We are preparing for the worst.”
The hospital has stocked itself for at least three months of volatility, he said. The ophthalmology department has doubled the staff members on duty in every shift. Among the injured this week was six-year-old Muneefa Nazir, whose right eye was damaged by a sling-shot injury when paramilitary forces targeted her uncle’s motorbike as the two traveled on it under tight restrictions, according to her uncle, Farooq Wani.
Men with pellet-gun injuries said coming to the hospital was fraught with risks of being immediately imprisoned under the state’s strict security laws. They said they traveled between midnight and sunrise when checks weren’t as tight. Journeys that normally would take an hour stretched for up to five hours, they said, as they sought to avoid arterial roads and were blocked at unavoidable checkpoints.
The communications shutdown has crippled regular life, preventing businesses from using e-banking services to pay suppliers and thwarting inquiries after aged parents and responses to medical emergencies. On a recent day, hundreds of people thronged a local government office where two phone lines were available for people to make international calls.
Nusrat Rasool, 26, said she hadn’t spoken to her husband, who works in Saudi Arabia, since the crackdown began. She elbowed her way through the crowds to get his number recorded in a register. There were 200 people ahead of her waiting to make calls, she was told. Her turn would come the following day.
Women lining up to use one of the few telephone lines open at the Deputy Commissioner's office in Srinagar, where the waiting period to use the phones extends to several days.
Each caller got only a minute or two to speak, surrounded by others listening in, with no second chance if the phone wasn’t answered. Ruhi Zahoor said even that small window would be a blessing if she could check in with her 21-year-old son, who was studying in Russia. She hadn’t been able to transfer money to him for basic expenses.
Residents say they are preparing for a long period of turmoil and hardship. Abdul Hamid Kachroo, 42, hasn’t been able to open his mutton shop for 10 days, the most lucrative time of the year as Muslims celebrated Eid al Adha on Monday. His stock isn’t even going at half-price now in informal sales from his home or the warehouse, he said.
“India’s fraud won’t go unanswered,” he said. “The volcano will erupt.”
Few people were out on the street in most of Srinigar this week as the city reeled under curfew-like conditions for a second week.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/kashmir-seethes-under-indian-security-clampdown-11565899945
SRINAGAR, India—As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised peace and prosperity for the disputed region of Kashmir in an Independence Day speech, Indian paramilitary forces blocked off streets in its largest city, which has been under a nearly total communications blackout for more than 10 days.
The curbs were aimed at preventing protests against the Modi government’s decision last week to end the region’s long-standing special status, which gave it a degree of autonomy. In his address in New Delhi Thursday, Mr. Modi celebrated what he described as Kashmir’s complete integration into India decades after independence from British rule in 1947.
Indian troops walking to their buses on Thursday after the end of Independence Day celebrations in the Kashmiri city of Srinagar.
Muslim-majority Kashmir is home to a separatist movement and was at the center of three wars between India and Pakistan. Indian armed forces have long maintained a heavy presence in the region and fought against a violent insurgency in the 1990s. Militants regularly clash with security personnel.
In dozens of interviews this week, many Kashmiris expressed rage and resentment against Mr. Modi and said those sentiments were growing as curbs continued. Many see the restrictions and massive deployment of security forces as a template for how New Delhi plans to govern Kashmir under the new arrangement.
“They want Kashmir, not Kashmiris,” said Manzoor Ahmad Bhat, a 65-year-old retired civil servant who dismissed Mr. Modi’s development promises as a charade. “They have silenced our voices, put us in a cage.”
Srinagar's main TV tower is seem on Srinagar's Shankracharya hill, but the Kashmir valley has been subjected to a virtual blackout of all communications.
Since Aug. 5, the government has turned off the internet and mobile-phone connectivity and blocked telephone land lines across Kashmir. Local elected leaders and dozens of other prominent figures have been placed under detention. Many parts of Srinagar are cut off with large coils of wires and armored vehicles.
Although restrictions on movement were eased on some days in some parts of the city, they have disrupted businesses and largely confined people to their homes.
Many Kashmiris predicted protests would break out when the government eases curbs, leading to bloodshed and an uptick in militant attacks. In 2016, dozens of people died in clashes between stone-throwing protesters and security forces after a popular militant was killed.
Many Kashmiris said that by scrapping Kashmir’s constitutional privilege and putting New Delhi in charge of its affairs, Mr. Modi has paved the way for nonresidents to buy land in the region, which was long prohibited, and subordinate its current inhabitants. They said they feared it was a ploy by Mr. Modi and his party, which has roots in Hindu nationalism, to change the demographic make-up of this predominately Muslim area.
The government has denied these accusations, saying the steps would end a decades-long cycle of corruption and terrorism that has stalled development.
This week in older neighborhoods of Srinagar, gun-wielding paramilitary forces were positioned every 100 yards, sometimes in large clusters, accompanied by police. The environment was tense, with rows of shops shuttered.
A man walking with his sick child as severe restrictions of movement took hold in Srinigar's Sonwar area.
Security personnel in the area said they had orders to make sure no one left their homes unless it was a medical emergency. They stopped cars passing by, seeking proof such as a visibly unwell person or hospital paperwork.
Rocks came flying toward them Wednesday afternoon, hurled by a group of young men who had defied the clampdown, one officer said. Security forces responded with sling-shots and guns that fire pellets, or birdshot, that can rip through flesh and rupture eyeballs.
Small-scale stone-pelting has occurred many times, security forces and residents said.
Muneefa Nazir was injured in her right eye when Indian security forces shot a projectile at her as she was out with her uncle in central Srinagar.
A doctor at Srinagar’s Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital said he had treated 30 people for eye injuries since Aug. 5. The numbers were smaller than past spasms of unrest because of the exceptional curbs, he said. “But sooner or later, it will get bad, very bad,” said the doctor, adding: “We are preparing for the worst.”
The hospital has stocked itself for at least three months of volatility, he said. The ophthalmology department has doubled the staff members on duty in every shift. Among the injured this week was six-year-old Muneefa Nazir, whose right eye was damaged by a sling-shot injury when paramilitary forces targeted her uncle’s motorbike as the two traveled on it under tight restrictions, according to her uncle, Farooq Wani.
Men with pellet-gun injuries said coming to the hospital was fraught with risks of being immediately imprisoned under the state’s strict security laws. They said they traveled between midnight and sunrise when checks weren’t as tight. Journeys that normally would take an hour stretched for up to five hours, they said, as they sought to avoid arterial roads and were blocked at unavoidable checkpoints.
The communications shutdown has crippled regular life, preventing businesses from using e-banking services to pay suppliers and thwarting inquiries after aged parents and responses to medical emergencies. On a recent day, hundreds of people thronged a local government office where two phone lines were available for people to make international calls.
Nusrat Rasool, 26, said she hadn’t spoken to her husband, who works in Saudi Arabia, since the crackdown began. She elbowed her way through the crowds to get his number recorded in a register. There were 200 people ahead of her waiting to make calls, she was told. Her turn would come the following day.
Women lining up to use one of the few telephone lines open at the Deputy Commissioner's office in Srinagar, where the waiting period to use the phones extends to several days.
Each caller got only a minute or two to speak, surrounded by others listening in, with no second chance if the phone wasn’t answered. Ruhi Zahoor said even that small window would be a blessing if she could check in with her 21-year-old son, who was studying in Russia. She hadn’t been able to transfer money to him for basic expenses.
Residents say they are preparing for a long period of turmoil and hardship. Abdul Hamid Kachroo, 42, hasn’t been able to open his mutton shop for 10 days, the most lucrative time of the year as Muslims celebrated Eid al Adha on Monday. His stock isn’t even going at half-price now in informal sales from his home or the warehouse, he said.
“India’s fraud won’t go unanswered,” he said. “The volcano will erupt.”
Few people were out on the street in most of Srinigar this week as the city reeled under curfew-like conditions for a second week.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/kashmir-seethes-under-indian-security-clampdown-11565899945
