India puts disputed Kashmir on lockdown as tensions rise

SRINAGAR, India — Authorities in Indian-controlled Kashmir imposed an indefinite security lockdown at midnight as tensions soared along the volatile, highly militarized frontier between India and Pakistan in the disputed Himalayan region following India’s massive troop buildup and ordering thousands of visitors out of the region.

Indian government forces laid steel barricades and razor wire on roads and intersections of neighborhoods in Srinagar, the main city of the region, and other towns in the Kashmir valley.

“As per the order there shall be no movement of public and all educational institutions shall also remain closed,” a government statement said. It said public meetings and rallies are also being banned.

Authorities also suspended internet services and most cellphone networks, a common tactic to prevent anti-india demonstrations from being organized and to stop dissemination of news.

Some pro-india Kashmiri leaders were also put under house arrest in Srinagar. Omar Abdullah, a top pro-india Kashmir leader, was among those put under house arrest. He said in a tweet, “This wasn’t the India” Kashmir “exceeded to but I’m not quite ready to give up hope yet.”

Earlier, India fired Sunday along the Line of Control that separates Kashmir between the archrivals, wounding a woman, and the ongoing skirmishes spread fear in border villages, Pakistani police said. Frontier residents on the Pakistani side are either moving to safer places or have begun construction of new bunkers, with some strengthening existing shelters near their homes.

Pakistan and India, which both claim Kashmir in its entirety, routinely blame each other for initiating border skirmishes.