India-administered Kashmir has been under a strict lockdown in recent weeks after New Delhi revoked the region's special status. A Kashmiri journalist has now been prevented by authorities from flying abroad.
Image: Reuters/A. Abidi
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India-administered Kashmir — known as Jammu and Kashmir — has been under a strict lockdown since New Delhi last month revoked its decades-old special constitutional status. The Indian government decided to strip Jammu and Kashmir of its statehood and turn it into two territories directly governed by New Delhi.
The move touched off anger among Kashmiris. To suppress any unrest, authorities have cut all communications, imposed a curfew and deployed thousands of additional troops to a region which is already one of the most militarized in the world.
The suspension of communication services, including the internet and landline phones, has made it difficult for information to trickle out of Kashmir.
Despite the restrictions, reports suggest that people have repeatedly taken to the streets to protest against the government's decision.
Many detained
Kashmir is claimed in its entirety by both India and Pakistan, although both countries only control parts of it. The region has long been a flashpoint between New Delhi and Islamabad, and two of the three wars they have fought have been over it. Both sides also fought a limited war in 1999.
But since New Delhi announced its move last month, prominent Kashmiris, including high-profile former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, have been detained by the authorities.
The government has repeatedly declined to provide a tally of how many people have been taken into custody. They said the "few preventive detentions" were made to avoid a "breach of the peace" in a region where rebels have been fighting Indian rule for decades.
No travel abroad?
Kashmiris have also been prevented from flying abroad.
On August 31, Kashmiri journalist and author Gowhar Geelani was barred by Indian immigration officials in New Delhi from traveling to Germany to take part in a media training program organized by Germany's international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW).
After checking in, Geelani said, he was stopped at the immigration desk for more than an hour before being denied permission to travel abroad. The journalist said that the authorities did not give any specific reasons for stopping him, and instead kept saying: "These days, there is a lot of trouble in relation to Kashmir."
Geelani said he was stopped at the immigration desk for more than an hour before being denied permission to travel abroadImage: Twitter/Gowhar Geelani
They also stressed that they were simply "following the orders" of their higher-ups.
"I am a published author, broadcast journalist, television analyst and political commentator. Last month, my book Kashmir: Rage and Reason was released by Rupa Publications. I do not understand what unknown crimes I have committed..." Geelani said.
Some Indian media outlets have falsely reported that Geelani recently re-joined DW as an editor. The media training program in Bonn is a pre-requisite to Geelani's appointment at DW's Delhi office, after which the signing of contract will follow. The journalist had previously worked for DW.
Geelani has been critical of the Indian government's recent moves in relation to Kashmir.
Geelani's was not the only case of authorities barring prominent Kashmiris from flying abroad. Last month, Kashmiri bureaucrat-turned-politician Shah Faesal was detained at New Delhi's international airport and sent back to Kashmir. Faesal has sharply criticized New Delhi's actions, telling last month that the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had "murdered" democracy.
India-Pakistan rivalry: Kashmiris pay a high price
India and Pakistan continue to clash over Kashmir, a volatile Himalayan region that has been experiencing an armed insurgency for nearly three decades. Many Kashmiris are now fed up with both Islamabad and New Delhi.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/T. Mustafa
An unprecedented danger?
On February 27, Pakistan's military said that it had shot down two Indian fighter jets over disputed Kashmir. A Pakistani military spokesman said the jets were shot down after they'd entered Pakistani airspace. It is the first time in history that two nuclear-armed powers have conducted air strikes against each other.
Image: Reuters/D. Ismail
India drops bombs inside Pakistan
The Pakistani military has released this image to show that Indian warplanes struck inside Pakistani territory for the first time since the countries went to war in 1971. India said the air strike was in response to a recent suicide attack on Indian troops based in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan said there were no casualties and that its airforce repelled India's aircraft.
Image: AFP/ISPR
No military solution
Some Indian civil society members believe New Delhi cannot exonerate itself from responsibility by accusing Islamabad of creating unrest in the Kashmir valley. A number of rights organizations demand that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government reduce the number of troops in Kashmir and let the people decide their fate.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/T. Mustafa
No end to the violence
On February 14, at least 41 Indian paramilitary police were killed in a suicide bombing near the capital of India-administered Kashmir. The Pakistan-based Jihadi group, Jaish-e-Mohammad, claimed responsibility. The attack, the worst on Indian troops since the insurgency in Kashmir began in 1989, spiked tensions and triggered fears of an armed confrontation between the two nuclear-armed powers.
Image: IANS
A bitter conflict
Since 1989, Muslim insurgents have been fighting Indian forces in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir - a region of 12 million people, about 70 percent of whom are Muslim. India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars since independence in 1947 over Kashmir, which they both claim in full but rule in part.
India strikes down a militant rebellion
In October 2016, the Indian military has launched an offensive against armed rebels in Kashmir, surrounding at least 20 villages in Shopian district. New Delhi accused Islamabad of backing the militants, who cross over the Pakistani-Indian "Line of Control" and launch attacks on India's paramilitary forces.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/C. Anand
Death of a Kashmiri separatist
The security situation in the Indian part of Kashmir deteriorated after the killing of Burhan Wani, a young separatist leader, in July 2016. Protests against Indian rule and clashes between separatists and soldiers have claimed hundreds of lives since then.
Image: Reuters/D. Ismail
The Uri attack
In September 2016, Islamist militants killed at least 17 Indian soldiers and wounded 30 in India-administered Kashmir. The Indian army said the rebels had infiltrated the Indian part of Kashmir from Pakistan, with initial investigations suggesting that the militants belonged to the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad group, which has been active in Kashmir for over a decade.
Image: UNI
Rights violations
Indian authorities banned a number of social media websites in Kashmir after video clips showing troops committing grave human rights violations went viral on the Internet. One such video that showed a Kashmiri protester tied to an Indian army jeep — apparently as a human shield — generated outrage on social media.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/
Demilitarization of Kashmir
Those in favor of an independent Kashmir want Pakistan and India to step aside and let the Kashmiri people decide their future. "It is time India and Pakistan announce the timetable for withdrawal of their forces from the portions they control and hold an internationally supervised referendum," Toqeer Gilani, the president of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front in Pakistani Kashmir, told DW.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Singh
No chance for secession
But most Kashmir observers don't see it happening in the near future. They say that while the Indian strategy to deal strictly with militants and separatists in Kashmir has partly worked out, sooner or later New Delhi will have to find a political solution to the crisis. Secession, they say, does not stand a chance.
