Kashmir shuts to protest India’s crackdown on activists

Shops and businesses were closed in Kashmir on Sunday to protest a sweeping crackdown against activists seeking the end of Indian rule in the disputed region.

Police and soldiers patrolled streets in Srinagar and enforced a security lockdown in the city centre in anticipation of protests and clashes.

Carrying automatic rifles and wearing riot gear, soldiers and police put up iron barricades and laid barbed wire on roads and junctions to cut off neighbourhoods.

The crackdown began on Friday night. Police are mainly targeting Kashmir’s largest political-religious group, Jamaat-e-Islami. The group espouses the right to self-determination for the Himalayan region, which is divided between India and Pakistan but claimed by both in its entirety.

Indian authorities have so far arrested at least 400 Kashmiri leaders and activists, escalating fears among already wary residents that a sweeping crackdown could touch off renewed anti-India protests and clashes. They’ve been lodged in police stations and jails across Kashmir.

Among those arrested were Jamaat-e-Islami head Abdul Hamid Fayaz and Mohammed Yasin Malik, an influential pro-independence leader who heads the Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front.

Sunday’s strike was called by the Joint Resistance Leadership, which is made up of three top Kashmiri leaders, including Malik.

The crackdown came amid high tension between India and Pakistan following the February 14 suicide car bombing of a paramilitary convoy by a Kashmiri militant. Forty Indian soldiers died in the attack.

India quickly blamed the attack on Pakistan and promised a “jaw-breaking response”. Pakistan warned India against linking it to the attack without an investigation, and offered a dialogue to resolve all issues, including Kashmir.

Residents fear the crackdown could be a prelude to a military strike by India against Pakistan or the tinkering of Kashmir’s special status in India’s constitution. India’s Supreme Court has yet to give its verdict on a petition against the special provision that it has been hearing for more than a year.

Indian authorities rushed about 10,000 additional paramilitary soldiers to the already highly militarised Kashmir Valley. Indian soldiers are ubiquitous in Kashmir and locals make little secret of their fury towards their presence, calling them an occupying force.

Since 1989, rebels have been fighting against Indian control in Kashmir. About 70,000 people have been killed in the uprising and ensuing crackdown. Most Kashmiris support the rebels’ demand that the territory be united either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country, while also taking part in civilian street protests against Indian control.