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Agence France-Presse

Tradition dictates that Muslims slaughter a sheep during Monday’s Eid al-Adha festival, and despite the military lockdown in Kashmir’s main city Srinagar, Bashir Ahmad was determined to respect the custom.
But after driving more than 20km (12.4 miles) from his home on the city’s outskirts, negotiating barricades and spools of barbed wire coiled across roads manned by paramilitary troops, he could not find anywhere to withdraw cash he needed to pay for a sheep.
“I took a risk to be on the road but this is useless,” Ahmad, a businessman, told AFP, adding that ATMs had run out of cash and banks were shut.
Last year, he bought five sheep, but this year, he has none.
“I don’t think I can buy a sheep this year and offer a sacrifice,” he conceded.

Muslim-majority Kashmir is set to celebrate Eid al-Adha on Monday, exactly a week after India’s Hindu nationalist government scrapped the restive region’s special autonomy status and imposed a curfew.
Locals mark Eid by buying tens of thousands of sheep and goats to kill in an annual ritual that stems from the story of the prophet Abraham, commanded by God to slaughter his beloved son Ismail.
The meat is then distributed among relatives and orphanages.
But that might not happen this year, as Indian authorities backed by tens of thousands of paramilitary troops maintain tight security restrictions that have prevented people from gathering in large groups.
Kashmir clampdown means even funeral rites can’t be observed
Though they were briefly loosened on Sunday, by the end of the day they’d been reimposed and sources told AFP in Srinagar that they expected them to be maintained through Eid celebrations on Monday.
Shakeel Bhat managed to reach the market in Srinagar after walking for 10km, but realised he could not afford to buy the sheep or goats on sale.
“My target was 9,000 rupees (US$127) but the rates are too high. The dealers are saying they are risking their lives to come out on streets,” Bhat said.
Animal traders are just as frustrated.

For many generations, Shamsher Khan and his two brothers from Kashmir’s nomadic community have reared sheep and goats through the year, moving them across meadows and mountain passes then selling their herd during Eid.
Khan walked almost 250km (155 miles) from Reasi district with his flock of 150 sheep to Srinagar last week, when the security lockdown was imposed.
“We have no sales this year. People have no cash and the situation is so bad that hardly anyone is able to come out of their homes,” Khan said.
“We have no source of income except for this occasion when we sell our flock and earn money to sustain us for the coming year.”
India scraps Kashmir’s special status raising fears of ‘catastrophic’ unrest
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said the end of autonomy for Kashmir would free the Himalayan region of terrorism and separatism and drive economic development.
But local Shuja Rasool sees the clampdown imposed by New Delhi as “interference in our religion”.
After 32 years of faithful observance, he, too, was unable to get cash to buy animals for Eid.
“We are not free and there is no freedom to practice our religion,” Rasool said. “I am very sad.”
One animal trader who had been in the business for 15 years was contemplating revenge.
“Modi has made the situation so strict here that it is unimaginable. When he lifts the curfew, we are going to sacrifice ourselves. Just like we sacrifice goats on Eid, we will sacrifice our own lives for our nation,” the trader said.


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Kashmir

Military lockdown hampers Eid in Kashmir with cash and sheep for slaughter scarce

A live stock trader takes a flock of sacrificial animals towards market ahead of Eid al-Adha in Srinagar. Photo: EPA-EFE

epa07768598 A live stock trader takes a flock of sacrificial animals towards market ahead of Eid al-Adha in Srinagar, India, 11 August 2019. Indian government on 05 August moved a resolution in the parliament that removes the special constitutional status granted to the disputed Kashmir region. The Indian-administered Kashmir region has been under heavy lockdown since then. Kashmir has been a disputed region since 1947 when India and Pakistan won their freedom from British rule. EPA-EFE/FAROOQ KHAN

Girls gesture after getting henna decorations on their hands on the eve of Eid al Adha, in Jammu, India, Sunday, Aug.11, 2019. Authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir said that they eased restrictions Sunday in most parts of Srinagar, the main city, ahead of an Islamic festival following India's decision to strip the region of its constitutional autonomy. There was no immediate independent confirmation of reports by authorities that people were visiting shopping areas for festival purchases as all communications and the internet remain cut off for a seventh day. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)

Pakistan PM Imran Khan claims lack of action to defend Kashmir is like ‘appeasing Hitler’

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan. Photo: AFP

Residents gather in support of Kashmiri people during an anti-Indian protest in Quetta 11, 2019, after the Indian government stripped the disputed Kashmir region of its special autonomy. (Photo by BANARAS KHAN / AFP)

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A security officer stands guard during a lock-down in Srinagar on August 10. Photo: AFP

In this photo taken on August 9, 2019, Kashmiri Muslims shout pro-freedom slogans during a protest in Srinagar. - Big queues formed in Indian-administered Kashmir's main city on August 10 outside cash machines and food stores as authorities eased a crippling curfew to let the Himalayan region prepare for a major Muslim festival, residents said. (Photo by STR / AFP)

epa07766428 People attend a protest against India after New Delhi revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, in Karachi, Pakistan, 10 August 2019. Indian government on 05 August moved a resolution in the parliament that removes the special constitutional status granted to the disputed Kashmir region. The Indian-administered Kashmir region has been under heavy lockdown with a restriction on public gatherings. Kashmir has been a disputed region since 1947 when India and Pakistan won their freedom from British rule.  EPA-EFE/REHAN KHAN

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi gestures during a press conference in Islamabad, Pakistan, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2019. Pakistan says that with the support of China, it will take up India's unilateral actions in the disputed region of Kashmir with the U.N. Security Council and may approach the U.N. Human Rights Commission over what it says is the "genocide" of the Kashmiri people. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

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Traditional slaughter of sheep may not be able to go ahead as Indian authorities maintain tight security restrictions



Traditional slaughter of sheep may not be able to go ahead as Indian authorities maintain tight security restrictions.


Military lockdown hampers Eid in Kashmir with cash and sheep for slaughter scarce

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Traditional slaughter of sheep may not be able to go ahead as Indian authorities maintain tight security restrictions

Traditional slaughter of sheep may not be able to go ahead as Indian authorities maintain tight security restrictions