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Lockdown in Kashmir continues for 9th day

KT NEWS SERVICE. Dated: 8/14/2019 11:29:57 AM

* A maze of razor wires, steel barriers in Srinagar * Internet, telecommunications remain suspended

SRINAGAR, Aug 13: Paramilitary soldiers guard and regulate multiple checkpoints, allowing few vehicles or pedestrians to go through in different parts of Kashmir Valley on Tuesday.
The main city in Kashmir, Srinagar has turned into a vast maze of razor wire coils and steel barricades as drones and helicopters hover overhead, reports of various news agencies said today.
Wearing flak jackets and riot gear, paramilitary soldiers carry automatic rifles and shotguns to control the network of checkpoints and barricades across roads, lanes and intersections in Srinagar. The few vehicles and pedestrians allowed through are regulated through this maze.
Although the four million residents of the Kashmir Valley, where an armed conflict has simmered for decades, are used to blockades, the one imposed after the Indian government's surprise move last week to strip the region of constitutional privileges is something residents say they have never seen before.
Amid the labyrinth whose entry and exit points are changed frequently, people find themselves disoriented in their own city, and struggle to memorise its frequently-changing street map.
"This is so vast, so expansive," resident Zameer Ahmed told The Associated Press news agency as he prepared to enter one barbed passageway.
"The entire Srinagar city has been knitted in razor wire to seek our silence and obedience."
'Smartest blockade ever'
The lockdown in the valley, the restive heart of the Jammu and Kashmir, has been in place since last week, when New Delhi scrapped the disputed region's special constitutional status, taking away the final vestige of the political autonomy and privileged rights to land ownership and public sector jobs it was granted when the region joined the newly formed republic of India after independence from the British in 1947.
Since then, India and Pakistan have fought two wars over rival claims to Kashmir, with each left controlling a part of the region.
A foreign news agency reports said that the Valley has seen several uprisings, including a bloody armed rebellion launched in 1989 to demand independence or a merger with Pakistan. About 70,000 people have been killed in that uprising and the subsequent Indian military crackdown that left Kashmiris exhausted, traumatised and broken.
Even before Parliament voted on August 5 to strip J&K's statehood and split it into two Union Territories, the central government imposed a curfew, suspended telephone and internet services and deployed tens of thousands of additional soldiers to the region - already one of the world's most militarised zones.
At checkpoints throughout Srinagar, police politely gave directions to a labyrinth whose entry and exit points are changed several times a day.
Mohammed Maqbool, an engineer, marvelled at the blockade system, the most intricate he said he has seen in 30 years in Srinagar.
"This time they've put in place the smartest blockade ever," he said. "They aren't aggressive compared to the public uprising of 2016. If you must, they also allow you to venture out of home, yet they've throttled our voice by such a sophisticated blockade."
Razor wire divides neighbourhoods, discouraging people from assembling. Some roads are blocked by perpendicularly-parked armoured vehicles or private buses. Because of the complexity of the security forces' one-way system, it is impossible to use the same route and return home from any particular destination, even if it is within sight.
"They've changed the road map of our city, trying to make us like strangers in our own neighbourhoods," said Bashir Ahmed, a resident of downtown Srinagar.
"This is a drill about disciplining and regulating people's movement. This is to psychologically break people and teach them that they're not in control of their own bodies," said Saiba Varma of the University of California, San Diego, who is in Srinagar for post-doctoral research in medical anthropology.
"In Palestine, the [Israeli] blockade has restricted food and medicine. But here it's different. They're letting people eat but trying to control Kashmiri bodies, minds and spirits," Varma said.
Authorities have refused to share any details about the checkpoints or new methods used for the latest blockade. Government officials maintain that the situation is returning to normal and that no one has died or been seriously injured in any of the sporadic protests that have broken out since the blockade began.
Due to constraints on movement and communication, it was not possible to verify their claims.