SRINAGAR – Indian PM Narendra Modi punishes Kashmiris Muslims, $1.4 billionblow to Occupied Kashmir economy in two months, media reports have revealed.
As per industry experts, the ongoing lockdown has cost the region’s economymore than $1.4 bn in 2 months. A prominent Srinagar-based businessman,Mushtaq Ahmed Chaya, says that there are around 3,000 hotels in the KashmirValley and they are all empty. They have loans to pay off and dailyexpenses to bear.
In occupied Kashmir, normal life remains disrupted on the 66th day, today,in Kashmir Valley and Muslim majority areas of Jammu region due to strictmilitary siege.
According to Kashmir Media Service, amid continuous military lockdown,internet and mobile phone services are snapped, public transport is off theroads, and most business establishments are shut. Schools and officescontinue to wear a deserted look.
Reports say that there is also a shortage of skilled labour in occupiedKashmir, as some 400,000 migrants have left since the lockdown began.
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Residents of the Kashmir Valley have mocked Governor’s directive asking forlifting travel advisory which had dissuaded tourists from visiting theterritory. They say who will want to come to Kashmir when even locals arefinding it hard with curbs on all communication channels including themobile phones and the internet.
Meanwhile, powerful Democratic Senator Mark Warner, who is co-chair of theIndia Caucus in the US Senate, has said in a Tweet that he is disturbed byrestrictions on communications and movement of people in occupied Kashmir,asking the Indian government to live up to democratic principles byallowing freedom of press, information and political participation.