The confinement imposed by the security forces in Srinagar, the main city of Kashmir under Indian control, may complicate Monday, August 12, the tradition of sacrificing a sheep for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

Last year, Bashir Ahmad bought five sheep for the occasion, but this time he is empty-handed. "I do not think I'm able to buy a sheep this year and offer it as a sacrifice," he says regretfully. "The prices are too high, the merchants say they risk their lives to come out on the streets," complains Shakeel Bhat, who walked ten kilometers to the Srinagar market.

The Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist, had however assured that the Muslims, who are in the majority in Kashmir, could celebrate without difficulty Eid, celebrated a week to the day after the revocation of the institutional autonomy of this region and the establishment of a curfew.

Gathering prohibited

In normal times, tens of thousands of sheep and goats are slaughtered for this important Muslim holiday, and their meat is then distributed to relatives and orphanages. But this may not happen again this year, because to ensure security, the Indian authorities, supported by cohorts of paramilitaries, have taken very strict measures that prohibit large gatherings.

Merchants do not hide their frustration either. This is the case of Shamsher Khan and his two brothers who belong to the nomadic Kashmiri community and have been raising sheep and goats for ages throughout the year with a view to selling them on the occasion of Eid. Samsher Khan walked nearly 250 km to go with his 150-sheep flock from Reasi district to Srinagar last week.

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"Almost no one dares to leave home"

"We do not make sales this year, people do not have cash and the situation is so bad that hardly anyone dares to go out" to go to the market, he laments. "Our only source of income is when on this occasion (Eid, Ed) we sell our flock and earn money to provide for our needs in the coming year," continues Samsher Khan.

And while the head of government promised that the end of the Indian Kashmir autonomy would not only eradicate terrorism and separatism but promote its economic development.

"Not free to practice our religion"

Shuja Rasool, an inhabitant of this Himalayan region, does not get angry, going so far as to say that the measures taken by New Delhi constitute an "interference in our religion". After having faithfully complied 32 years in the tradition, he also has not managed to obtain the sums needed to buy animals to sacrifice.

"We are not free to practice our religion, it makes me very sad," he says.

With AFP