India moves to ease controls on Kashmir for Eid
AUTHORITIES in Indianadministered Kashmir said they eased restrictions in the Muslim-majority region’s main city for a third straight day yesterday ahead of a major Islamic festival.
It follows India’s move to strip the region of its constitutional autonomy and impose an indefinite curfew.
More than 250 ATMs were made functional in Srinagar and bank branches opened for people to withdraw money ahead of today’s Eid al-Adha festival, city administrator Shahid Choudhary said in a tweet.
There was no immediate independent confirmation of reports by authorities that people were visiting shopping areas for festival purchases, as all communications and the internet remained cut off for the seventh day.
The New Delhi Television News channel showed video of jeeps fitted with loudspeakers moving in the region after lunchtime, telling people to return to their homes and shopkeepers to shut markets. NDTV said the move may have been prompted by sporadic clashes that took place in Srinagar after the restrictions were relaxed on Saturday.
Authorities appear to be acting with utmost caution because of a fear of a backlash from residents who have been forced to stay indoors since last Monday. The restrictions were briefly eased for the first time on Friday, when residents were allowed to attend mosque prayers.
Kashmir has been under the lockdown and near-total communications blackout to prevent unrest and protests after India’s Hindu nationalist-led government said last Monday that it was revoking Kashmir’s special constitutional status and downgrading its statehood. Thousands of Indian troops have been deployed.
On Saturday, Rahul Gandhi, a leader of India’s main opposition Congress Party, said there were reports of violence and “people dying” in the region.
“Things are going very wrong there,” he said, calling for the Indian government to make clear what is happening.
Authorities in Srinagar said on Saturday night that there had been instances of stonepelting by protesters but no gun firing by security forces in the past six days.
Television images showed cars and people moving in some parts of Kashmir.
State-run All India Radio quoted the region’s top bureaucrat, Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam, as saying that people were coming out of their homes for Eid shopping.
(AP)