SRINAGAR – Stone-throwing protesters in Indian Kashmir killed a driver ofwhat they thought was a military truck, police said Monday, as a cripplingsecurity lockdown entered its fourth week.
The fatality came ahead of talks between Narendra Modi and Donald Trump atthe G7 in France when the US president will reportedly press the Indianpremier to lift a communications blackout in the restive region and show”utmost restraint”.
On August 5 Modi’s Hindu-nationalist government revoked the autonomy of theMuslim-majority territory where tens of thousands of people have beenkilled in an uprising against Indian rule since 1989, most of themcivilians.
New Delhi sent reinforcements to the estimated half a million troopsalready stationed in Kashmir, cut phone lines and the internet, placedsevere restrictions on movement and arrested thousands, according tomultiple sources.
The turning of the former Himalayan kingdom of seven million people into afortress of barricades and barbed wire has not prevented protests andclashes with security forces taking place however.
In the latest demonstration on Sunday in Anantnag district protestorshurled stones at a truck that they believed to be a military vehicle. The42-year-old driver was struck on the head and died, police said.
The Press Trust of India news agency said two men had been arrested overthe incident.
– Gandhi sent back –
India says no civilian has died from police action since August 5.
But residents have said three people have been killed, including a youngmother who choked after police fired tear-gas canisters into her home.
Multiple hospital sources have told AFP at least 100 people had been hurtduring the lockdown, some with firearm injuries.
Authorities say they have been easing restrictions gradually but adelegation led by key opposition figure Rahul Gandhi was turned away atSrinagar airport on Saturday after flying in from New Delhi to assess thesituation.
“It’s been 20 days since the people of Jammu & Kashmir had their freedomand civil liberties curtailed. Leaders of the Opposition and the Press gota taste of the draconian administration and brute force unleashed on thepeople when we tried to visit Srinagar yesterday,” Gandhi tweeted on Sunday.
Regional police chief Dilbagh Singh told AFP that Gandhi was turned backbecause in a situation “getting to normalcy” they wanted to avoid any”controversial statement”.
– Trump talks –
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Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik on Sunday defended therestrictions, echoing the government which says the curbs are meant tomaintain peace in the disputed region also claimed by arch-rival Pakistan.
“There has not been a single case of killing in J&K in the last 10 days. Ifcommunication blackout helps in order to save a human life, what is theharm,” Malik was quoted as saying in multiple media reports.
But Indian news reports also suggested there is unease in Washington andthat, at their talks later Monday on the sidelines of the G7 summit inBiarritz, Trump would press Modi on easing regional tensions and addressinghuman rights.
“India’s decision to rescind Article 370 in Kashmir is an internaldecision, but certainly with regional implications,” the Indian Expressquoted a US official as saying.
Trump “is likely to stress the need for dialogue among all sides of theconflict and his hope that India will lift the communications and movementrestrictions in Kashmir and exercise utmost restraint in dealing withpotential protests,” the official said.
At the same time the official stressed that Trump “is also calling onPakistan to prevent the infiltration of militants across the Line ofControl that divides Kashmir and to crack down on groups on its territorythat have attacked India in the past”.
India has insisted Kashmir is purely an internal matter and that it doesnot want outside mediation, something the US president has offered.
“Any discussion on Kashmir, if at all warranted, will only be with Pakistanand only bilaterally,” Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was quotedas saying on Friday.
A crippling security lockdown has entered its fourth week in restive IndianKashmir
The turning of the former Himalayan kingdom of seven million people into afortress of barricades and barbed wire has not prevented protests andclashes with security forces taking place
India has insisted that Kashmir is purely an internal matter and that itdoes not want outside mediation, something which the US president hasoffered
Reports in the Indian media suggested there is unease in Washington and attheir talks later Monday on the sidelines of the G7 summit in BiarritzTrump would press Modi on easing regional tensions. APP/AFP