SRINAGAR: A month after India withdrew Held Kashmir’s autonomy, locked it down with thousands of additional troops and made mass arrests, residents are resisting attempts by authorities to show some signs of normalcy returning in the Muslim-majority valley, a British wire service reported.
To dampen the possibility of widespread protests, India flooded the IHK - already one of the world’s most militarised zones - with troops, imposed severe restrictions on movements, and cut all telephone, mobile phone and internet connections. Thousands of people were arrested.
New Delhi has since eased some of the curbs although no prominent detainees have been freed and mobile and internet connections remain suspended.
Officials in Srinagar claim that 90 percent of the IHK is free of restrictions on daytime movement, some landline phone connections have been restored and thousands of schools have re-opened. However, checkpoints remain in place and communication restrictions make reporting from the region difficult.
Despite the partial relaxation, many students are boycotting classes, shopkeepers are not opening up and public and private sector employees are not turning up for work, in informal action aimed at protesting against the government in New Delhi, according to interviews with seven government officials and dozens of residents of the valley.
“For us, our identity at stake and its safeguarding is our priority,” said Shabir Ahmad, a shopkeeper from the old quarter of Srinagar.
“Let them restore it and we will re-start our businesses.”
The civil disobedience has sprung up alongside small but regular protests by stone-throwing crowds that have been quickly quashed by security forces with tear gas and pellet guns.
Hurriyat leadership have been detained alongside mainstream politicians, including three former chief ministers and hundreds of other civil society leaders.
In posters across Srinagar, which began appearing in late August, shopkeepers have been asked to only open late in the evenings and early in the mornings to enable residents to buy essentials.
In the commercial areas of downtown Srinagar, the majority of shops remain shuttered.
Despite security forces asking owners to return to normal opening hours, many have refused.
“We were opening shops in the evenings for people,” said Mohammad Ayub, a Srinagar shopkeeper. “The troops tell us either to open the shops for the full day or don’t open in the evenings.”
Rohit Kansal, the official spokesman of the Jammu and Kashmir state government, blamed “anti-national” forces for preventing shops from opening.
“Security forces have taken note of it,” he said.
Attendance in major government offices in Srinagar is about 50% and those in smaller, subordinate offices in the city is substantially lower, a state government official said, declining to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media.
At an office of the state housing and urban development department in western Srinagar, only 30 out of about 300 staff were in attendance on most days, another official said.
“Only those who live nearby report to the office. The others come in once in a while,” the official said.
Government workers employed to tend Srinagar’s famous Dal Lake have not turned up for work in several weeks, officials said, and the water’s surface has become clogged with weeds.
“How can I send my children to school? There is a clampdown and we are concerned for the safety of our wards,” said Javed Ahmad, a Srinagar parent.
The shutdown and restrictions are having an impact across all areas of society.
With tourists avoiding the region, hotel owners say occupancy rates are close to zero.Srinagar’s historic Jamia Masjid mosque has been closed for a month.
Kashmir’s postal service is heavily disrupted, and online retailers, including Amazon, say their operations in Jammu and Kashmir remain suspended.
Pharmacists say there are shortages of some drugs because of logistical problems, particularly thyroid, diabetes, anti-depressant and cancer drugs. A reporter saw a chemist in the Jawahar Nagar area of Srinagar turn back half a dozen customers asking for common drugs on Wednesday, saying he didn’t have any left.
Meanwhile, tThe Amnesty International India on Thursday launched a global campaign ‘’Let Kashmir Speak’’ to highlight the draconian communication blackout in Indian Held Kashmir, terming it an “outrageous protracted assault on the civil liberties of the people”.
The blackout has now been a month old and cannot be prolonged any further by the Indian government as it has grossly impacted the daily lives of Kashmiri people, their emotional and mental well-being, medical care and access to emergency services, said Aakar Patel, head of Amnesty International India in a statement.
The Amnesty International’s head said depriving a population of eight million of its right to freedom of expression, opinion and movement for an indefinite period is akin to taking the region back to the dark ages.
“The Naya Kashmir cannot be built without Kashmiris. The country is yet to hear from Kashmir after a month of being repeatedly been told by the Indian government that all is normal. This is not normal. Let Kashmir speak”, said Aakar Patel. He said the current shutdown was against the Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which India was a party.
He mentioned that sketchy reports coming out of the region had highlighted unattended medical emergencies, mass arrests and detentions, children and youth being picked up in the middle of the night, torture of civilians, indiscriminate use of tear gas, rubber bullets and pellet guns at protestors. The attempts to restrict the freedom of press, like in the case of journalist and author Gowhar Geelani who was arbitrarily stopped at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi from boarding his flight to Germany, have further compounded the effect of the communication blackout.
According to a recent Kashmir Press Club statement, at least three senior Kashmiri journalists were asked to vacate government accommodations as soon as possible, which is nothing but harassment aimed at coercing journalists to toe a particular line .
The government’s attempts to create a public opinion of normalcy in Kashmir while curbing the freedom of independent press have usurped the voice of the people. This is no more a clampdown on just the communication systems of Kashmir, but a clampdown on the hearts and minds of the Kashmiris, said Aakar Patel.
