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Residents queue at a gas station in Srinagar on August 4, 2019. TAUSEEF MUSTAFA / AFP

In Indian Kashmir, 35,000 soldiers were sent this week to this already highly militarized zone, with the aim of strengthening security. On Friday, August 2, the government canceled one of the largest annual pilgrimages and asked all visitors, tourists and professionals, to leave the region. New Delhi says Pakistan is about to launch a major terrorist attack. But on the spot, the inhabitants are skeptical. And prepare for the worst.

With our correspondent in New Delhi, Sébastien Farcis

" It's chaos," says RFI, a resident of Srinagar, the regional capital. People rush to the shops, and fill up on gas, potatoes and onions. "

Kashmiris are used to being caught between two fires. But this time, it's anguish, because they do not know what to expect: the government says it wants to anticipate a terrorist attack, after the army found Pakistani weapons, and following the infiltration of 5 Pakistani attackers in India.

For the first time in 23 years, he canceled the religious pilgrimage of Amarnath, a regular target of terrorists - and all tourists from the region are invited to leave, resulting in a mass exodus.

But the Kashmiris fear an even more serious plan: the Hindu nationalist government has indeed promised to change the constitutional status of Indian Kashmir, which offers an exceptional power to his Parliament and prevents non-Kashmiris from holding land in the region.

This reform could indeed lead to an insurgency in Kashmir and many believe that the government is preparing the ground to face it.