Kashmir still locked down

A communications blackout in disputed Kashmir entered a second day yesterday, after India snapped television, telephone and internet links to deter protests over its scrapping of special constitutional status for the Himalayan region.

Moving to tighten its grip on India’s only Muslim-majority region, the government dropped a constitutional provision for the state of Jammu and Kashmir, which has long been a flashpoint in ties with neighbouring Pakistan, to make its own laws.

“We are managing for now,” said a senior official at a hospital in the region’s main city of Srinagar that was among the medical facilities hit by the communications crackdown. Staff were working overtime at the 500-bed Lal Ded hospital, with ambulances having been sent out to fetch doctors and nurses, added the official, who sought anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to media.

Hours before Monday’s announcement, authorities in Kashmir, which is also claimed by Pakistan, clamped an unprecedented communications blackout on the region, arresting its leaders, including two former state chief ministers.

Washington on Monday urged respect for rights and called for the maintenance of peace along the de facto border in Kashmir.

“We are concerned about reports of detentions and urge respect for individual rights and discussion with those in affected communities,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.

Pakistan’s army chief said yesterday the country’s military will “go to any extent” to support people in the contested Kashmir region.

“Pakistan Army firmly stands by the Kashmiris in their just struggle to the very end,” said General Qamar Javed Bajwa after meeting with top commanders in Rawalpindi.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said the country was considering an approach to the United Nations Security Council.

“We will fight it at every forum. We’re thinking how we can take it to International Court (of Justice)... to the United Nations Security Council,” Khan said in an address to Pakistan’s parliament.

Pakistan’s foreign office said yesterday a session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will discuss the developments regarding Kashmir.

Meanwhile, the bill to split Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories sailed through Lok Sabha yesterday, with some opposition parties walking out, bringing down the majority mark, and others siding with the government.

Amid a political storm that started on Monday morning since Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s announcement in parliament, the resolution was passed through a division of votes - 370 members voted in its favour and 70 voted against it.

ABUSE OF EXECUTIVE POWER

The decision to revoke special status for Kashmir has won praise from many Indian politicians, including some in the opposition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Many in India see it as a bold move to end a three-decade-old armed revolt in the territory, drawing it closer to the rest of India.

Media yesterday called the move historic, although criticism is growing about the way Modi took the decision amid a security crackdown and without wider political consultation.

Criticism mounted from opposition politicians yesterday, with Rahul Gandhi, until recently the head of the main opposition Congress party, saying the decision was an “abuse of executive power” that had “grave implications for our national security”.

“National integration isn’t furthered by unilaterally tearing apart J&K, imprisoning elected representatives and violating our Constitution. This nation is made by its people, not plots of land,” he wrote on Twitter.

Kashmir’s regional politicians said they were kept in the dark about the move and feared a wider crackdown in the next few days. Three leaders Reuters met on Monday at their homes in Srinagar had little knowledge of the situation outside.

“This will be difficult - difficult for people, difficult for political parties,” said Rafi Ahmed Mir, spokesman of the People’s Democratic Party, which was part of the BJP coalition that ruled the state until last year.

TIGHT SECURITY

Armed police patrolled every few hundred metres in the city, where a ban on public gatherings of more than four people stayed in force yesterday. Educational institutions and most shops in residential neighbourhoods were shut.

Security forces fired tear gas and pellets in response to sporadic protests on Monday in Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar, said one police official who declined to be identified.

“There was stone-pelting in some parts of the city,” he added.

Some shopkeepers said they were running out of stock after days of panic buying.

“No provisions are left in my shop, and no fresh supplies are coming,” said grocery store owner Jehangir Ahmad.

India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, where tens of thousands of people have been killed in a nearly 30-year-long armed revolt that India has sent hundreds of thousands of troops to quell, reported AFP.

India blames the rebellion on Pakistan, saying Islamabad provides money, training and weapons to Islamist militants who either live in Indian-controlled Kashmir or enter it from the Pakistani side.