Security forces on Friday used tear gas against stone-throwing locals in Srinagar, Kashmir’s main city, after a third straight week of protests in the restive Soura district, despite the imposition of tight restrictions.
Paramilitary police tried to enter Soura, which has emerged as a center of the protests, as hundreds of locals staged a protest march against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to withdraw autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir on Aug. 5.
Posters appeared overnight this week in Srinagar, calling for a march to the office of the UN Military Observer Group for India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to protest against India’s decision.
Photo: AP
This was the first such call by separatists seeking Kashmir’s secession from India.
India’s move was accompanied by travel and communication restrictions in Kashmir, which are still largely in place, although some landlines were restored last week.
The UNMOGIP was set up in 1949 after the first war between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. The group monitors ceasefire breaches along the border between the countries.
In a narrow lane of Soura, blocked like many others with rocks and sheets of metal, residents hurled stones at the paramilitary police to stop them from moving into an area around the local mosque, Jinab Sahib, which had earlier been packed for Friday prayers.
Police responded with several rounds of tear gas and chili grenades, but were beaten back by dozens of stone-pelting men. Some men suffered pellet injuries.
The locals said that the security forces had been repeatedly trying to move into Soura, often using tear gas and pellets.
“We are neither safe at home, nor outside,” said Rouf, who declined to give his full name.
He had rubbed salt into his face to counteract the effects of the tear gas.
The afternoon had begun peacefully, with men and women streaming into Jinab Sahib for afternoon prayers.
A cleric then raised a call for azadi — Urdu for “freedom” — several times and declared Kashmir’s allegiance to neighboring Pakistan.
“Long live Pakistan,” the cleric said, as worshippers roared back in approval.
US President Donald Trump plans to discuss Kashmir when he meets with Modi on the sidelines of a G7 meeting in France this weekend, a senior US administration official said on Thursday.
Trump, who has offered to mediate between India and Pakistan, would press Modi on how he plans to calm regional tensions after the withdrawal of Kashmir’s autonomy and stress the need for dialogue, the official said.
Some Indian media reports on Friday said that “terrorists” were trying to enter India from Afghanistan, citing unnamed government officials.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan responded on Twitter on Friday that such claims were being made to “divert attention” away from what he called human rights violations in Kashmir.
“The Indian leadership will in all probability attempt a false flag operation to divert attention,” Khan said.
Khan’s comments came a day after UN experts called on the Indian government to “end the crackdown on freedom of expression, access to information and peaceful protests” in Kashmir, saying that it would increase regional tensions.
“The blackout is a form of collective punishment of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, without even a pretext of a precipitating offence,” the UN experts said in a statement.
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