India lets some Kashmiris out of homes for Eid
TROOPS in Kashmir allowed some Muslims to walk to local mosques alone or in pairs to pray for the Eid al-Adha festival yesterday during an unprecedented security lockdown that still forced most people in the disputed region to stay indoors.
Some protesters demonstrated against the Indian government’s surprise revocation of Muslimmajority Kashmir’s special status last week.
All communications and the Internet remained cut off for the eighth day. The streets were deserted, with authorities not allowing any large groups to gather to avoid anti-India protests.
“Our hearts are on fire,” said Habibullah Bhat, 75, who said he came to offer prayers despite his failing health. “India has thrown us into the dark ages but God is on our side and our resistance will win.”
Hundreds of worshippers gathered on a street in a neighborhood in Srinagar after the prayers and chanted “We want freedom” and “Go India, Go back.” Officials said the protest ended peacefully.
Kashmir police said in a tweet that Eid festival prayers “concluded peacefully in various parts of the (Kashmir) Valley. No untoward incident reported so far.”
Independent verification of events in the region was difficult because of the communications shutdown.
The security lockdown in India’s only Muslim-majority region is expected to last through Thursday, India’s independence day.
The restrictions were briefly eased for Friday prayers last week and for shopping ahead of Eid festival.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and opposition leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari expressed support for people in Kashmir to have self-determination.
India and Pakistan have fought two wars over control of Kashmir and the first ended in 1948 with a promise of a UN-sponsored referendum in the territory. It has never been held.
Qureshi urged the international community to take notice of “Indian atrocities and human rights violations in Kashmir.”
He said Islamabad was trying its best to highlight the Kashmir issue internationally and expose Indian “cruelties” in the region.
Thousands of additional troops were sent to the disputed Himalayan region before India’s Hindu nationalist-led government said last Monday that it was revoking Kashmir’s special constitutional status and downgrading its statehood.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in an address to the nation that the move would free the territory of “terrorism and separatism” and accused Pakistan of fomenting unrest.
Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan but claimed in full by both. Rebels have been fighting Indian rule in the portion it administers for decades.
Restrictions, lockdowns and information blackouts are nothing new for Kashmiris. The region witnessed months of clampdowns during massive public uprisings against Indian rule in 2008, 2010 and 2016.
(AP)