Kashmir crisis escalates ahead of anniversary of militant killing
Stone-pelting protesters face off against pellet guns
SRINAGAR, Indiaadministered Kashmir: Indian authorities on Friday shut down the Internet in disputed Kashmir and sealed off the hometown of a slain militant leader a day before the anniversary of his killing by the army, which had fueled further unrest across the
Himalayan region.
Burhan Wani, a commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen militant group best known for appearing on social media in military fatigues to urge young people to join the fight against Indian forces, was killed in southern Kashmir on July 8 last year.
On Friday, police halted people’s movements in his hometown of Tral, in a bid to forestall gatherings and demonstrations, witnesses said.
A security alert has been enforced across the Kashmir Valley, with some preventive arrests made ahead of Saturday’s anniversary, Inspector General Muneer Ahmad Khan said.
“The alert is not only for unlawful assembly of people and rallies but also for militant strikes,” he said.
India blames Pakistan for pushing in militants from its part of Kashmir to carry out attacks, a charge denied by Islamabad.
The South Asian rivals have fought two of their three wars since independence in 1947 over Muslimmajority Kashmir, which they both claim in full but rule in part.
Late on Thursday, authorities ordered Internet service providers to shut down data services in Kashmir, citing the risk of anti-India forces using social media to stir up unrest.
India has been struggling to restore normalcy in Kashmir, deploying thousands more soldiers, after Wani’s killing appeared to breathe new life into the 28-year armed revolt that had ebbed and was drifting, with little international attention.
A Pakistan-based Kashmir militant commander, whom the US last week added to its list of global terrorists, has called for a strike on Saturday to mark Wani’s killing.
Syed Salahuddin’s United Jihad Council, an umbrella body of antiIndia militants based in Pakistanheld Kashmir, has been incensed by the US designation, vowing to continue its struggle to liberate Kashmir.
Witnesses said most shops were closed in Srinagar, the region’s summer capital, with traffic thin ahead of the anniversary. Authorities have restricted the movement of people in the city’s old quarter, which has often erupted in violence.
Security forces using pellet guns to disperse crowds of stone-throwing young protesters in Kashmir have killed more than 100 people, blinding hundreds and maiming thousands over the past year.
The protests have unleashed a political crisis in the state, governed for the first time by a regional party in coalition with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which draws support from India’s Hindu majority. The clashes have recently spread to college campuses and schools.
“If I get a weapon, I am ready to join the militancy — but for the time being, the stone is our weapon,” said one 23-year-old student, who asked not to be identified.
He is one among many young men who find themselves fighting street battles, slinging stones at pellet gun-wielding police officers from their own communities.
“My father is in the police, posted in Srinagar,” the protester added. “He used to tell me to join the police, but now he does not insist.”
Slender employment prospects prompt many residents of Srinagar to join the police force.