...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there....
, a Supreme Court justice said on Tuesday as a security clampdown entered a ninth day since New Delhi revoked the region's special status, triggering protests.
The court is hearing an activist's petition seeking to lift curbs on communications and movement that have disrupted normal life and essential services in the Himalayan region.
Telephone lines, internet and television networks have been blocked since August 5 when India withdrew occupied Jammu and Kashmir's right to frame its own laws and allowed non-residents to buy property there.
Restrictions on movement and assembly, including a ban on gatherings of more than four people, were tightly enforced on Tuesday in the region's main city, Srinagar.
Menaka Guruswamy, a lawyer for the petitioner, said the court should move to restore hospital services and open schools.
"That is all I ask," she told the Supreme Court in New Delhi.
Justice Arun Mishra said the government wanted to bring Kashmir back to normal as soon as possible.
"The situation is such that nobody knows what is going on. We should give them time to restore normality. Nobody can take one per cent of chance," Mishra said. "Who will be responsible if something really bad happens tomorrow?"
| Al Ahram adds: |
Indian troops patrolling the disputed region allowed some Muslims to walk to mosques to mark the Eid al-Adha festival on Monday, and shops were opened briefly on previous days.
The lockdown is expected to last at least through Thursday, India's independence day.
An uneasy calm continued to prevail along the Line of Control in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, where residents of Chakothi, a remote border town, said they were living in a state of uncertainty.
Jalal Hanif, a shop owner, said there had been no exchange of fire in Chakothi or elsewhere in Pakistan's part of Kashmir since New Delhi imposed the changes.
``But whenever Indian troops open fire, shells and mortars hit our bazaar and homes,'' he said. Hanif said those who can afford to have built bunkers to protect themselves.