Thousands Arrested in Kashmir Amid Blackout
SRINAGAR, India (AP/Reuters) — Authorities say thousands of people, mostly young male protesters, have been arrested and detained in Indian-administered Kashmir amid an ongoing communications blackout and security lockdown imposed more than two weeks ago to curtail civil unrest after a change to Kashmir’s decades-old special status.
According to three high-ranking Kashmir police officials and arrest statistics shared with The Associated Press on Tuesday, at least 2,300 people have been detained in jails and other facilities in the Himalayan valley. The officials spoke anonymously fearing punishment from superiors.
The latest crackdown began this month, just before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist-led government stripped Kashmir of its semi-autonomy and its statehood, creating two federal territories.
A Central Reserve Police Force spokesman told the AP that he didn’t know how many people have been detained.
Security forces detained 30 people overnight in Indian Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar, local officials said on Tuesday, seeking to keep a tight lid on protests.
Youth have pelted stones at paramilitary police deployed in Srinagar, and the latest detentions took place in parts of the city where such incidents have occurred, a police officer said.
"These arrests have been made in the areas where there has been intensifying stone pelting in the last few days,” the officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
A local government official confirmed the latest detentions.
The withdrawal of the special privileges of Muslim majority Kashmir means residents of all parts of India can buy property and compete for government jobs and college places, raising fears that it will be flooded with outsiders.
Modi’s surprise move has also increased tensions with arch rival Pakistan which lays claim to Kashmir and has accused India of human rights violations in the territory at the heart of more than 70 years of hostility between them.
Authorities in Indian Kashmir on Monday said the protests were local and small in nature involving no more than a dozen people. Still, primary schools remained deserted on Tuesday as they were the previous day as parents worried about the safety of their children kept them at home.
Reuters visited three schools in Srinagar including Presentation Convent Higher Secondary School and no students had turned up and classes were deserted.
According to three high-ranking Kashmir police officials and arrest statistics shared with The Associated Press on Tuesday, at least 2,300 people have been detained in jails and other facilities in the Himalayan valley. The officials spoke anonymously fearing punishment from superiors.
The latest crackdown began this month, just before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist-led government stripped Kashmir of its semi-autonomy and its statehood, creating two federal territories.
A Central Reserve Police Force spokesman told the AP that he didn’t know how many people have been detained.
Security forces detained 30 people overnight in Indian Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar, local officials said on Tuesday, seeking to keep a tight lid on protests.
Youth have pelted stones at paramilitary police deployed in Srinagar, and the latest detentions took place in parts of the city where such incidents have occurred, a police officer said.
"These arrests have been made in the areas where there has been intensifying stone pelting in the last few days,” the officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
A local government official confirmed the latest detentions.
The withdrawal of the special privileges of Muslim majority Kashmir means residents of all parts of India can buy property and compete for government jobs and college places, raising fears that it will be flooded with outsiders.
Modi’s surprise move has also increased tensions with arch rival Pakistan which lays claim to Kashmir and has accused India of human rights violations in the territory at the heart of more than 70 years of hostility between them.
Authorities in Indian Kashmir on Monday said the protests were local and small in nature involving no more than a dozen people. Still, primary schools remained deserted on Tuesday as they were the previous day as parents worried about the safety of their children kept them at home.
Reuters visited three schools in Srinagar including Presentation Convent Higher Secondary School and no students had turned up and classes were deserted.