Thousands protest in IOK over new status despite clampdown

Women, children among at least 30 injured as Indian troops fire tear gas, pellets; more than 500 people detained

SRINAGAR: Indian police used tear gas and pellets to fight back at least 10,000 people protesting New Delhi’s withdrawal of special rights for Muslim-majority Occupied Jammu and Kashmir in its main city of Srinagar on Friday, a police official and two witnesses said.

The demonstration soon after Friday prayers was the largest since authorities locked down the revolt-torn region five days ago, cutting off telephone and internet services and detaining more than 500 political and separatist leaders.

Seeking to tighten its grip on the region, India this week scrapped Occupied Jammu and Kashmir’s right to frame its own laws and allowed non-residents to buy property there.

Regional leaders have warned of a backlash in the area, where freedom fighters have been fighting Indian rule for nearly 30 years, leading to the deaths of more than 50,000 people.

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A large group of people gathered in Srinagar’s Soura area, a police officer said, in violation of orders that prohibit the assembly of more than four people.

The crowd was pushed back by police at Aiwa bridge, where a witness said tear gas and pellets were used against them. “Some women and children even jumped into the water,” a witness said at Srinagar’s Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, where pellet victims were admitted.

A man with pellet injuries lies in a hospital bed after he was injured during clashes in Srinagar August 9, 2019. PHOTO: REUTERS

“They (police) attacked us from two sides,” another witness said. The police officer said 12 people had been admitted to two hospitals in the city after receiving pellet injuries at Soura, taking the total injured in the protests this week to at least 30.

“There were around 10,000 people at the protest in Soura,” the police officer said. “This was the biggest so far.”

Thousands of extra paramilitary police were deployed across Occupied Kashmir just before the sweeping measures were announced on Monday to prevent large-scale protests.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said he had taken the controversial move to help develop the valley and that he hoped it would lead to investment and more job opportunities.

His Hindu nationalist-led party has long campaigned for abrogating Occupied Kashmir’s special privileges in the constitution, which it sees as an appeasement to Muslims and a hindrance to its own development.

An Indian foreign ministry spokesman, Raveesh Kumar, played down the unrest, which he suggested was temporary.

“Just outside Srinagar things have really come back to normal,” he said.

Kumar added, “People are going about their business, vehicles are plying normally. If we are confident of maintaining the law and order, I think those restrictions will be relaxed, I’m quite sure.”

However, the police officer, who requested anonymity since he is not authorised to speak to the media, said that political detentions in the wake of the Modi government’s decision to revoke IOK’s special rights were continuing.

“Over 500 people are now arrested since Sunday,” he said, including former chief ministers, ministers, lawmakers and leaders and workers from political parties and separatist groups.

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Islamabad, on the other hand, has downgraded diplomatic ties with India and suspended trade in reaction to Delhi’s latest move.

On Friday, senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi said China was gravely concerned about the situation in Occupied Kashmir.

Wang met Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Beijing and assured him that China would continue to support Pakistan to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.