SRINAGAR – Fear gripped Indian Kashmir Tuesday as residents leaving therestive territory spoke of a tense military crackdown and protests breakingout against the shock government move to scrap its autonomous status.
At least six people were injured in protests that erupted after apresidential decree on Monday removed the Muslim-majority region’s specialstatus, sources said.
A hospital in the main city of Srinagar had admitted six patients withgunshot wounds or other injuries caused by non-lethal weapons, a source atthe facility said on condition of anonymity.
The Himalayan region has been virtually cut off from the rest of thecountry after authorities took down phone and internet services ahead ofMonday’s announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalistgovernment.
Public gatherings and rallies have also been banned.
In some of the first observations reported from the cut-off communities,passengers who arrived at India’s capital New Delhi on flights fromSrinagar, the main city in Indian-administered Kashmir, spoke of the uneasymood in the state.
A traveller, who asked to remain anonymous, said he heard intermittentgunfire and other weapons being fired since Monday, soldiers shoutingduring the night, and saw government troops deployed “every five steps”.
“My car was checked at least 25 times on the way to the airport and it tookme almost four hours to cover a distance of hardly 30 minutes,” he told AFP.
Mubeen Masoodi, who also arrived Tuesday from Srinagar, said he was at awedding on Sunday night when suddenly the revellers realised their phoneswere no longer working.
“While we were having our food (around) midnight, that is when the phonesone by one went (off)… and that’s when people realised something big ishappening and everyone just rushed back home,” he said.
Another plane passenger, Farooq Sheikh, told the Press Trust of India thathe felt “caged inside in our own city”.
“Our mobile phone connection has been snapped, internet shut, even cableTVs and landlines are down. We felt like we were caged, or being jailed inour own home, our own city,” he said.
Sanna Wani, a Kashmiri poet, took to Twitter to describe the fear and panicgripping Srinagar before she managed to get a flight out.
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She said even those residents citing medical emergencies were not allowedto get past a security checkpoint.
The stories of apprehension felt by Kashmiri residents came as UNHCRspokesman Rupert Colville said the communications blackout and securityclampdown were deeply concerning.
“We are seeing, again, blanket telecommunications restrictions, perhapsmore blanket than we have ever seen before, the reported arbitrarydetention of political leaders and restrictions on peaceful assembly,” hetold reporters in Geneva Tuesday.
Indian-administered Kashmir has been in the grip of a rebellion againstIndian rule since 1989.
The region has been divided between India and Pakistan since theirindependence in 1947, and the two sides have conflicting claims on theterritory, over which they have fought two wars.
New Delhi rushed tens of thousands of fresh troops to the picturesqueconflict-ridden valley — already the most militarised region in the world– earlier this month in anticipation of unrest over the decision.
Authorities have denied reports of protests and said the region waspeaceful after the announcement.
State police chief Dilbagh Singh told Indian television channels that”people have been very co-operative and not a single incident of violencehas been reported”.
The seven-decades-old constitutional provision that was scrapped allowedonly locals to buy land in the region and gave the state a separate flagand a constitution.
Militant groups and many residents have fought for the region’sindependence or to join neighbour Pakistan. -APP/AFP