Little relief seen from restrictions imposed by India
NEW DELHI — Restrictions continued in much of Indianadministered Kashmir on Sunday, despite India’s government saying it was gradually restoring phone lines and easing a security lockdown that’s been in place for nearly two weeks.
Soldiers manned nearly deserted streets and limited the movement of the few pedestrians who came out of their homes in Srinagar, the region’s main city.
The security crackdown and a news blackout were installed following an Aug. 5 decision by India’s Hindu nationalist government to downgrade the Muslimmajority region’s autonomy. Authorities started easing restrictions on Saturday.
But the Press Trust of India news agency said authorities reimposed restrictions in parts of Srinagar after violence was reported on Saturday.
About 300 Kashmiris returned to Srinagar on Sunday from a Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. Many of them became emotional while reuniting with their family members who met them at the city’s airport. Due to the security and communications lockdown, many travelers were unable to contact anyone in the Kashmir region.
“Neither us nor our relatives here knew if we were dead or alive,” Muhammad Ali said after returning from the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca.
Public transport buses started operating in some rural areas in Indiancontrolled Kashmir on Saturday. Cell phone and internet services resumed in some districts, but news reports said that happened only in the Hindudominated Jammu region, which was not threatened by antiIndia protests.
The New Delhi government’s decision on Kashmir’s status has touched off anger in the region and raised tensions with Pakistan. Kashmir is divided between Pakistan and India, but both claim the region in its entirety. The nucleararmed archrivals have fought two wars over the territory.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan demanded that United Nations observers be deployed to the troubled region.
“This threatens 9 million Kashmiris under siege” in Kashmir, “which should have sent alarm bells ringing across the world with UN Observers being sent there,” Khan said Sunday on Twitter.
Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh dismissed the idea, and said that if talks are held between New Delhi and Islamabad they would only be on Pakistaniadministered Kashmir, not on India’s part of the region.
Meanwhile, ordinary people in the region continue to feel the impact of the restrictions.
Nazir Ahmad, a retired engineer who lives in Srinagar, said residents were still facing difficulties in buying items such as vegetables, milk and medicine. He said his father is sick and needs a constant supply of medicine, which the family is finding difficult to procure.
“There is no internet, no telephone, no communication, no transportation,” said Ahmad, describing the situation as living through a “siege.”
“We are living like animals,” he said. “So I request everybody, please come and solve this situation.”