Thousands flee Kashmir over rising terrorist threat
New Delhi orders visitors including tourists and pilgrims to evacuate region
Thousands of people fled India’s Kashmir valley over the weekend after New Delhi ordered the evacuation of visitors including tourists, pilgrims and migrant workers, citing an elevated threat of terrorist violence.
The Indian army said in a statement over the weekend that in the past week there had been numerous ceasefire violations along the line of control that divides Muslim-majority Kashmir between India and its neighbour and rival, Pakistan.
Indian Air Force planes were assisting in the unprecedented evacuation of some 20,000 Indian and foreign visitors from the region, where many people rushed to Srinagar airport to try to get seats on commercial flights, sending ticket prices soaring.
The army described a “spurt in activities of infiltration” by Pakistan’s border action team, which it said was seeking to provide cover for fighters to slip into Indian-held territory “to disrupt peace” along the line of control in Kashmir.
However, Imran Khan, Pakistan’s prime minister, on Sunday accused India of using “cluster munitions” against civilians along the line of control in violation of international humanitarian law, and called on Washington to intervene.
“President Trump offered to mediate on Kashmir. This is the time to do so as situation deteriorates there and along the LOC with new aggressive actions being taken by Indian occupation forces,” he tweeted. “This has the potential to blow up into a regional crisis.”
Private colleges and their hostels have also closed indefinitely, with colleges advising students from outside the region to return home and laying on buses to help them leave.
The exodus of outsiders from the picturesque but politically volatile territory generated anxiety and panic buying among Kashmir’s local population, who formed long queues for petrol and other supplies.
Kashmiris were already on edge following the movement of tens of thousands of Indian security personnel to the heavily militarised region in recent weeks.
Rumours have spread that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government is planning to abrogate the special legal provisions that protect Kashmir’s special character as India’s only Muslim-majority state, in
cluding rules that bar outsiders from buying property and holding state government jobs.
Omar Abdullah, former chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir, tweeted after the exodus began: “It is easy to accuse us of spreading fear but no one is bothering to tell the people what is happening so how do you expect that fear won’t be a natural result of this situation that has been allowed to fester.”
The exodus began after Indian authorities announced late on Friday that they were cancelling the Amarnath Yatra, an annual pilgrimage to a sacred cave, after finding evidence of a planned terror attack on Hindu pilgrims. Security officials told Indian media that they had discovered a Pakistani-made landmine and an improvised explosive device near the pilgrimage route.
The authorities then urged all other visitors to the region to leave, sending officials to hotels in mountain resorts to clear out visitors in a move that brought an abrupt end to the summer tourist season. Migrant labourers, who are thought to number nearly 200,000 in the state, have also begun to flee.
Tensions between India and Pakistan — which have fought four wars over Kashmir since 1947 — have also risen along the line of control, the de facto border that divides the region between them.
Earlier this year, India carried out a missile-strike on a suspected terror training camp in Pakistan, after a suicide bomber killed 44 paramilitary personnel in the Kashmir region.
On Saturday, the Pakistani military accused India of using cluster bombs “in violation of international conventions”. The Indian army said it had dealt with infiltration attempts along the line of control with “utmost professionalism and responded in a calibrated manner to target terrorists and the Pakistani army’s complicity”.
In a weekend statement, Pakistan’s foreign ministry warned that it was “strongly opposed to any move that would seek to alter the demographic structure” of the Kashmir Valley”, a move that it said would be “in violation of the UN Security Council resolutions and seriously endanger peace and security in the region”.
The UK and Germany were among six countries that issued travel advisories this weekend urging their nationals to avoid all travel to Kashmir in view of the prevailing situation.