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India-controlled Kashmir Srinagar- Indian Interior Minister Amit Shah said during his visit to the region that it was apparently to resolve the dissatisfaction of Kashmiri youth with New Delhi. He said that he was here to extend a hand of “friendship” to young people.
After Shah abolished the semi-autonomous status of India-administered Kashmir under the Indian Constitution on August 5, 2019, this was his first visit to a disputed area, and the communications and military blockade in the following months was paralyzed.
The Shah’s three-day visit was conducted against the background of the deteriorating security situation in the region. Violence in the region has increased. In 20 days this month, 38 people were killed, including 11 civilians and 17 insurgents. And 10 security personnel.
When speaking to young people during their interactions with youth clubs in the region, the union’s interior minister sought their cooperation to strengthen Kashmir’s “democracy”.
“I am here to expand friendship,” Shah said. “Come to contact Modiji, to contact the Indian government,” he said, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“I’m here to find you to cooperate. The government has extended a hand of friendship to you. Come forward and strengthen democracy here. No one is allowed to disrupt the peace in Kashmir. From the perspective of peace, development, and infrastructure, this It’s an ideal situation and no one can stop it.”
In defending the decision to shut down the Internet two years ago, Shah said that after the abolition of Jammu Kashmir’s special status and the split into two joint territories, the curfew and ban in the valley was to protect the lives of Kashmiris.
“There is a time when you suffer, and it will only save your children,” he said. “When the situation returned to normal, we opened everything up.”
Shah introduced the government’s unilateral decision to repeal Article 370 in Parliament two years ago. The law provides exclusive civil rights for permanent residents in the area, prohibiting outsiders from purchasing property or permanent residence.
The move aroused the outrage of 7 million residents in the region, who expressed their dissatisfaction, saying that the move was intended to bring demographic changes to the Muslim-majority territory.
When the Shah visited Kashmir on Saturday, he welcomed the decision to deprive the region of limited autonomy, but he said: “August 5, 2019 is a historic day and will be written in golden letters.”
“It marked the end of fear, terrorism, corruption and nepotism, and ushered in an era of progress, development and peace… Now young people in Kashmir must move forward,” Shah said.
He added that the development that is taking place in the region is impossible until the special law is repealed.
The Shah also claimed that “terrorism” and stone-throwing protests are decreasing.
“So far, more than 40,000 people, including security forces, terrorists and civilians, have lost their lives here… Terrorism and progress cannot coexist. The first condition for development is peace. Who can do it?… Youth must be committed To eliminate terrorism.”
“Civilian Killing”
The Minister of the Interior of the Trade Union visited Kashmir a few weeks after the recent series of killings of civilians. A series of attacks against ethnic minority communities and non-local migrant workers have occurred, forcing thousands of people to flee the area.
The Minister of the Interior met with the families of civilians who were killed in the recent attack.
October was a deadly month for the region, when suspected anti-Indian insurgents carried out back-to-back attacks on civilians, specifically targeting minority communities and non-local workers.
Among the victims were five non-local workers, two local Hindus and a Sikh woman. Officials said that most of the attacks were carried out by the newly formed armed group Resistance Front (TRF), which threatened to launch more attacks.
Although the Indian government claims that abolishing the region’s special status will eliminate violence and bring development to the region, tensions including political instability and killings continue.
Currently, there is no democratically elected government in the area, and it is directly managed by New Delhi through its carefully selected administrators.
‘More harassment’
More than 800 people were detained, most of them demonstrators, insurgents or their relatives. Officials told Al Jazeera that at least 30 people have been arrested under the controversial law-the Public Security Act (PSA)-under which a person can be sentenced to more than one year in prison without trial.
Nearly two dozen of these detainees have been transferred to prisons outside of Kashmir.
The footprints of police and paramilitary personnel on the streets of the area have also been strengthened. Dozens of female paramilitary personnel have been deployed to search for female commuters.
Hundreds of motorcycles were also seized by the police for no reason, arousing public outrage. The police justified the move, saying it was “related to terrorist violence.”
“Whenever the Indian minister comes to Kashmir, it only increases the harassment of us. There is always more harassment. We are facing difficulties in the name of so-called’security measures’,” a 31-year-old Ahmed Said that his two-wheeler was seized by the police for unknown reasons.
“I was waiting outside the police station with my helmet, but no one cares here.”
During the visit of the Minister of the Interior, security measures have been taken, and a number of new security bunkers and checkpoints have been set up in the area, especially in the main city of Srinagar with a population of over 1 million.
Officials said that in order to strengthen surveillance, sharpshooters and snipers have also been deployed in multiple places in the city.
Police sources told Al Jazeera that 50 more paramilitary troops have been deployed in the area.
More high-resolution CCTV cameras and drones have been installed around the residential areas of ethnic minorities and migrant workers to prevent any attacks.
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