Authorities in Indian Kashmir will free jailed protesters and reduce the number of checkpoints in the main city Srinagar, a senior security official said on Wednesday.
However, they put off a decision over whether to limit the scope of a much-hated security law that the Indian military enforces in the Muslim-majority region to curb persistent unrest.
The move was part of a federal government initiative to defuse tension in Kashmir, which has been in a siege-like state of strikes, protests and curfew for months, threatening to undermine rule from New Delhi.
More than 100 people have been killed and scores arrested in protests since June — among the biggest since an armed separatist rebellion broke out in Kashmir in 1989.
“The state government will immediately release youth and students who have been arrested for stone pelting,” B.R. Sharma, Kashmir’s home secretary, told a news conference after a security meeting. “It was decided to remove 16 bunkers in Srinagar city ... It is a significant beginning.”
He did not say how many detainees would be released.
The federal government has also said a team will soon begin a dialogue with a broad cross-section of Kashmiris, including political parties, aiming to restore the credibility of Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in the face of growing discontent.
However, Wednesday’s decisions were unlikely to appease many Kashmiris, who have been looking for revocation of a widely hated security law that gives the military sweeping powers to search, arrest or shoot protesters.
More than 500,000 security personnel are deployed in Kashmir, most of which has been declared “disturbed” a precondition for the application of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.
The government also last week said it would review the possibility of limiting the extent of the security act.
However, on Wednesday, Kashmiri authorities announced only the formation of a committee to review the law’s application and submit a report to the government.
Despite widespread curfews, separatists have staged three months of strikes and protests. The protests have subsided for about a week now.
Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, both of which claim the region in full. They have fought two of their three wars over it. Kashmiri separatists in India want to carve out an independent homeland or merge with predominantly Muslim Pakistan.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese