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Associated Press

Authorities in Indian-controlled Kashmir will allow tourists back into the region two months after ordering them to leave because of security concerns amid an Indian crackdown, an official said Tuesday.
But tourists are unlikely to experience normal life in the disputed area or be able to use mobile internet or cellphones, which remain cut.
Local government spokesman Rohit Kansal said the decision was made after a review of the situation. Security restrictions “have now been withdrawn almost entirely from all parts of Jammu and Kashmir”, he said.
He said the restrictions on the entry of tourists will be lifted on Thursday.

The government instructed tourists and Hindu pilgrims to leave on August 2, three days before India stripped the Muslim-majority region of its statehood and decades-old semi-autonomy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist-led government also sent tens of thousands of additional troops to the region, already one of the most militarised in the world.
It imposed a harsh security clampdown, cutting virtually all communications.




Indian troops arrested thousands of anti-India as well as pro-India activists, including some Kashmiri leaders who have historically accepted Indian rule over the region, in the days leading up to and after the revoking of its special status.
How a luxury hotel in Indian-held Kashmir became a political prison
The moves touched off widespread anger, as one of the revisions allows anyone to buy land in the territory, which some Kashmiris fear will result in an influx of Hindus who would change the region’s culture and demographics.
Authorities have since eased some restrictions and encouraged students to return to school and businesses to reopen, but Kashmiris have largely stayed indoors to show their defiance of Indian rule.

They have launched a campaign of refusal to resume their normal lives, confounding India at the cost of economic losses for themselves. Shops have adopted new, limited hours of operation in the early morning and evening.
Some tourist operators expressed surprise over the government’s decision.
“When everything is shut, what kind of tourist will take a risk to come here without basic amenities like phones and public transport?” said Bashir Ahmed, a tourist operator whose business has been shut since August.
India “has always tried to use tourism as a sign of normality,” said Nazir Ahmed, a Kashmiri schoolteacher.




Kashmir’s pristine mountainous landscape, ski resorts, lake houseboats and apple orchards have long made it a tourist attraction.
However, a full-blown armed rebellion has raged in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir since 1989 seeking a united Kashmir – either under Pakistani rule or independent of both countries.
In India, Kashmir’s transgender community struggles to survive
About 70,000 people have been killed in the uprising and an Indian military crackdown. India accuses Pakistan of training and arming the rebels, a charge Islamabad denies.
Simmering tensions over Kashmir have also threatened to erupt into open conflict between India and Pakistan after New Delhi imposed the heavy restrictions in the area it controls. Kashmir is divided between the two nuclear-armed rivals, which both claim it in its entirety. They have fought two wars over its control.


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Kashmir

India to allow tourists back into Kashmir – but internet blackout to stay

Tourists cross the Dal Lake on a shikara. Photo: AP

FILE PHOTO: An aerial view shows Dal Lake, one of Kashmir's main tourist attractions, in Srinagar, September 20, 2019. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas/File Photo

Tourists in shikaras, traditional gondolas, cross the Dal Lake in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Photo: AP

In India, Kashmir’s transgender community struggles to survive under the shadow of conflict

Babloo has not left her home in Kashmir for the past 45 days. Photo: Adnan Bhat

Aijaz Ahmad Bund, LGBTQ activist at his home in Barbarshah, Srinagar, Kashmir. Photo: Adnan Bhat

(190823) -- SRINAGAR, Aug. 23, 2019 (Xinhua) -- Indian paramilitary troopers ask a Kashmiri man to leave in Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir, on Aug. 23, 2019. The restive Indian-controlled Kashmir continued to remain incommunicado Friday for the 19th straight day. Authorities tightened restrictions in view of the separatist call for march to the United Nations Military Observers Group for India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) in Srinagar city. (Xinhua/Javed Dar)

Trans woman Omaira at a friends home in Dalgate area of Srinagar. Kashmir. Photo: Adnan Bhat

Shabo visits Babloo at home, Kashmir LGBTI. Photo: Adnan Bhat

India scraps Kashmir’s special status raising fears of ‘catastrophic’ unrest

Security personnel stand guard on a street in Jammu. Photo: AFP

Kashmir Map

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 23: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan makes a brief statement to reporters before a meeting with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) at the U.S. Capitol July 23, 2019 in Washington, DC. In remarks before the meeting, Khan said that U.S.-Pakistan relations need to be reset. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

Modi-Xi bonhomie to be tested by ‘irritants’, but global pressures may yet prompt tighter embrace

Xi and Modi in the Indian city of Ahmedabad in September 2014. Photo: AP

India's Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj (R) shakes hands with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi as a press conference begins at the Diaoyutai State Guest House in Beijing on April 22, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / MADOKA IKEGAMI

Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attend the group photo session during the BRICS Summit at the Xiamen International Conference and Exhibition Center in Xiamen, southeastern China's Fujian Province on September 4, 2017. - Xi opened the annual summit of BRICS leaders that already has been upstaged by North Korea's latest nuclear weapons provocation. (Photo by Kenzaburo FUKUHARA / POOL / AFP)

Indian Army personnel keep vigilance at Bumla pass at the India-China border in Arunachal Pradesh on October 21, 2012. Bumla is the last Indian Army post at the India-China border at an altitude of 15,700 feet above sea level. AFP PHOTO/ BIJU BORO (Photo by BIJU BORO / AFP)

India-Pakistan nuclear war could kill more than 100 million, study warns

Indian soldiers conducting drills. Photo: EPA

epaselect epa07874347 Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan addresses the General Debate of the 74th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations at United Nations Headquarters in New York, New York, USA, 27 September 2019. The annual meeting of world leaders at the UN runs until 30 September 2019. EPA-EFE/JUSTIN LANE

FILE PHOTO: Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi addresses the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 27, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan Mcdermid/File Photo

Kashmir unrest spreads to Ladakh, the mountainous region on the Chinese border

Nearly two months after the Indian government stripped away statehood from the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, new tensions are brewing in Ladakh, a remote and picturesque part of that territory that borders China. Photo: AP

n this Sept. 12, 2019, photo, cars are parked in Leh, a town in India’s Ladakh district, which is part of the Himalayan region of Kashmir. Nearly two months after the Indian government stripped away statehood from Kashmir, new tensions are brewing in Ladakh, a remote and picturesque area that borders China. (AP Photo/Aijaz Hussain)

In this Sept. 11, 2019, photo, Tsetan Angchuk, who heads the All Ladakh Tour Operators Association, works on his laptop in Leh, India. Angchuk said its members worry about a recent drop in tourism in the region. Nearly two months after the Indian government stripped away statehood from the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, new tensions are brewing in Ladakh, a remote and picturesque part of that territory that borders China. (AP Photo/Aijaz Hussain)

This Sept. 12, 2019, photo shows a deserted restaurant in Leh, a town in India’s Ladakh region. Nearly two months after the Indian government stripped away statehood from Kashmir, new tensions are brewing in Ladakh, a remote and picturesque part of the region that borders China. (AP Photo/Aijaz Hussain)

In this Sept. 8, 2019, photo, Shiite Muslims in Kargil, India, beat their chests in mourning to mark Muharram in a mosque near a poster showing solidarity with the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. Nearly two months after the Indian government stripped away statehood from Kashmir, new tensions are brewing in Ladakh, a remote and picturesque part of that territory that borders China. (AP Photo/Aijaz Hussain)

News

Asia

South Asia


Three days before India stripped the autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir, tourists were told to leave the disputed region
Thousands of Indian troops have since flooded the region, which also has a communications blackout imposed by the Indian government



Two months after India ordered a lockdown on Kashmir, they are allowing tourists back into the disputed region, but the communications blackout will still remain, authorities say.


Pakistan

India

Narendra Modi

Tourism