Foreign
A strict lockdown on India-administered Kashmir showed signs of easing as officials said that some restrictions on communications would be lifted on Friday.
The officials also said that schools would also re-open soon.
Tensions have spiked in Kashmir, which has been the source of a long-running territorial dispute between India and Pakistan, since the Indian government revoked the special status granted to its part of the region on Aug. 5.
The move divided what was once the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir into two federally-administered territories and triggered deadly border clashes between India and Pakistan, who have previously fought two wars over Kashmir.
“Schools will be opened after the weekend area-wise so that children’s studies do not suffer,” Indian Kashmir’s chief secretary BVR Subrahmanyam told reporters in the main city of Srinagar.
Authorities will begin restoring landline phones from Friday evening and most of the lines will be made functional over the weekend, he said.
Restrictions on mobile phones and internet services would, however, continue.
Government offices also re-opened on Friday, with many seeing high attendance, Subrahmanyam said.
Curfew measures, which have forced many of the 7 million inhabitants of the Kashmir valley to stay indoors, will also be removed “area by area,” according to the official.
“It is expected that over the next few days, as restrictions get eased, life in Jammu and Kashmir will become completely normal,” Subrahmanyam added.
The lockdown was put in place after New Delhi revoked Article 370 of the Indian constitution, which granted the Muslim-majority region autonomy except in matters of foreign affairs, defence and communications.
Pakistan and India control only parts of Kashmir, but each has laid claim to the entire region since they gained independence from Britain in 1947.
New Delhi accuses Islamabad of supporting a Muslim separatist insurgency in its part of Kashmir.
Kashmiri political leaders’ demands have ranged from autonomy within India, to independence, to merging with Pakistan.
On Friday, a Pakistani soldier was killed in a clash with Indian forces in Kashmir, bringing the death toll in the region over the last 24 hours to six, according to the Pakistani army.
Three Pakistani soldiers and two civilians were killed in gun fire on Thursday across the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border which divides the Himalayan valley.
Pakistani troops killed five Indian soldiers in retaliatory fire, the Pakistani army said, but officials in New Delhi have denied reports of deaths on its side.
The latest clash came as the UN Security Council was set to hold closed-door consultations to decide whether to call an emergency meeting on Kashmir at Pakistan’s request.
Over 44,000 people – militants, civilians and security personnel – have been killed in India-administered Kashmir in the secessionist insurgency since the late 1980s.
At the briefing in Srinagar, Indian officials defended the security crackdown, which is described as precautionary measures in view of credible intelligence inputs that militant groups backed by Pakistan were planning a major strike there.
“We have prevented any loss of life despite concerted efforts by terrorist organizations, radical groups and continuing efforts by Pakistan to destabilize the situation,” Subrahmanyam said.
Army, airforce and security force bases in the region were placed on high alert later Friday evening over the likelihood of a terrorist attack by Pakistan-backed militant groups, Indian media reported, citing official sources. (NAN)
_AUG 16, 2019 @16:24 GMT |
Tags: Kashmir lockdown to ease with lifting of communications restrictions
