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The crackdown is intensifying in Indian Kashmir, where dozens of sympathizers and leaders of separatist groups have been arrested on Friday night. On Friday, February 22nd, New Delhi sent 10,000 additional troops to this disputed Pakistan area, where a suicide bomber against the Indian army killed 40 people last week.
With our correspondent in New Delhi, Antoine Guinard
The leader of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Yasin Malik, was one of the first separatist leaders detained on Friday night. The police also arrested several executives of Jamaat-e-Islami, including its leader Abdul Hamid Fayaz. This politico-religious organization is part of a coalition of separatist groups, constantly in the line of sight of New Delhi in Kashmir.
The police say that these arrests are part of the routine, following violent incidents, in the powder kashmir. The leader of the separatist coalition said that this wave of arrests could further destabilize the region.
Announced last Friday by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a military response from India now seems imminent after the attack on 14 February against the Indian army, the deadliest in 30 years in Kashmir. Perpetrated by a 20-year-old Kashmiri kamikaze, he was claimed by a terrorist group based in Pakistan. On the Pakistani side, we are preparing for an Indian military offensive, while New Delhi is moving its troops to Kashmir at high speed.
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