Srinagar – Authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir placed large partsof the disputed region under lockdown early Monday while India sent in tensof thousands of additional troops and traded accusations of clashes withPakistan at their de facto border.
Communications were cut, with private mobile networks, internet servicesand telephone landlines cut, an AFP reporter said.
Before the network disruptions, senior former and current Kashmiripolitical leaders tweeted that they had been put under house arrest.
The Himalayan region has surged back into the spotlight in the past fewdays, months after a militant attack on an Indian paramilitary convoyclaimed by a Pakistan-based group sparked cross-border airstrikes by thenuclear-armed rivals.
They have controlled parts of the region since the end of British colonialrule on the subcontinent in 1947.
But both claim it in full and have fought two of three wars over theterritory, where a decades-long insurgency on the Indian side has killedtens of thousands.
“As per the order, there shall be no movement of public and all educationalinstitutions shall also remain closed,” the state government ordered forSrinagar, the capital of Indian-administered Kashmir, and surrounding areasin a statement obtained by AFP.
“There will be a complete bar on holding any kind of public meetings orrallies during the period of operation of this order.”
Universities, schools and colleges in the Hindu-dominated Jammu wereordered to be shut, and one district in that region was placed underlockdown.
Several other major districts of the Muslim-majority state were also placedunder restrictions, local media reported.
The latest tensions started in the last 10 days after New Delhi deployed atleast 10,000 troops. A security source told AFP a further 70,000 had beendeployed, which is believed to be an unprecedented level.
The government has introduced other security measures over terror threatclaims — including a call to stock up food and fuel.
The measures have sparked growing panic among residents, who formed longqueues outside petrol stations, food stores and cash machines.
A heavy presence of troops was seen in parts of Srinagar as gunshotssounded, although the streets remained empty, local residents told AFP.
In downtown Srinagar, government forces threw “chili bombs” that affectrespiratory systems onto the deserted streets, a local resident said, whilea senior official told AFP that nearly 300 administrative officials and topsecurity officials had been issued with satellite phones.
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“I believe I’m being placed under house arrest from midnight tonight & theprocess has already started for other mainstream leaders,” Omar Abdullah, aformer chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, tweeted before communicationswere cut.
The last time similar restrictions were imposed in the territory was in2016 after the killing of a popular rebel leader, which sparked months ofstreet protests that left nearly 100 dead.
The restrictions came as India and Pakistan traded tit-for-tat accusationsof attacks across the Line of Control, the de facto border dividing Kashmir.
The Indian army said Sunday it had foiled an attempt by a Pakistani team ofarmy regulars and militants to cross the Line of Control, killing “five toseven” attackers.
Pakistan described the claim as “baseless” and accused India of usingcluster bombs against civilians, killing four people and injuring 11 others.
Muhammad Siddique, the father of one victim, told reporters his son AyanAhmad was killed by an unexploded cluster munition while he and otheryoungsters played with it.
New Delhi has denied using the weapons.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday accused India of taking “newaggressive actions”, saying it could “blow up into a regional crisis”.
He called a meeting of the country’s national security committee to reviewthe situation in Kashmir.
Tourists and students have scrambled to leave the picturesque region sincethe government said they should depart “immediately”, amid new intelligenceabout “terror threats” to a major Hindu pilgrimage in the region.
While the Indian military and the state government have highlighted thesecurity risk, Kashmiri and opposition politicians in New Delhi areconcerned the extra troops were deployed for other reasons.
Since mid-2018, Indian Kashmir has been under Delhi’s direct rule afterPrime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party withdrew support forits local partner and dissolved the local government.
There are fears Modi’s Hindu nationalist government could carry out athreat to scrap the region’s special status under the constitution. -APP/AFP