Lockdown remains over unrest fears
NEW DELHI: Indian lawmakers passed a bill on Tuesday that strips statehood from the Indian-administered portion of Muslim-majority Kashmir, which remains under an indefinite security lockdown, actions that archrival Pakistan warned could lead to war.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist-led government submitted the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill for a vote by the lower house, a day after the surprise measure was introduced alongside a presidential order. That order dissolved a constitutional provision, known as Article 370, which gave Kashmiris exclusive hereditary rights and a separate constitution.
“After five years, seeing development in J&K (Jammu and Kashmir) under the leadership of PM Modi, people of the valley will understand drawbacks of Article 370,” Indian Home Minister Amit Shah said just before the bill was passed. Kashmir is claimed by both India and Pakistan and divided between them. Two of the three wars the nuclear-armed neighbours have fought since their independence from British rule were over Kashmir.
How the seven million people in the Kashmir Valley were reacting was unclear, because the Indian government shut off most communication with it — including internet, cellphone and landline networks. Thousands of additional troops were deployed to the already heavily militarised region out of fear the government’s steps could spark unrest. Kashmir is India’s only Muslimmajority state and most people there oppose Indian rule.
Indian TV news channels in Srinagar, the main city in India’s portion of Kashmir, showed security personnel including armed soldiers in camouflage standing near barbed wire barricades in the otherwise empty streets. Hundreds of people around Pakistan and the portion of Kashmir it controls rallied against Mr Modi, burning him in effigy and torching Indian flags to condemn India’s moves.
The Pakistani military was on high alert following reports that New Delhi was continuing to send additional troops to its portion of Kashmir. China, which also lays claim to a portion of Kashmir, is “seriously concerned’’ about the situation, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.
An outpouring of condemnation by Kashmiris living outside the region or who were able to access the internet despite the government blocks suggest the population will resist the New Delhi government’s actions.