- Tweeter
republish
The Indian government on Tuesday (August 13th) announced a gradual lifting of restrictions on Kashmir, a week after the cancellation of the autonomous status of this ultra-militarized Muslim majority region. The residents of the state, however, remain cut off from the rest of the country, with New Delhi fearing a blaze of violence after this controversial decision.
With our correspondent in New Delhi, Antoine Guinard
The highway linking Srinagar and Jammu, the two capitals of Indian Kashmir, has been reopened, Kashmiris now have access to medical care in hospitals. The latter have been able to renew their stocks of drugs with this relief restrictions imposed by New Delhi in the region on Tuesday.
On the same day, however, the Supreme Court rejected a petition demanding the restoration of the internet and telephone lines in Kashmir, recalling the still " very sensitive " situation in the region. Apart from the largely Hindu region of Jammu, where the means of communication have been restored, the vast majority of Kashmiris remain unreachable and foreign journalists still have no authorization to visit Kashmir.
Several Kashmiris who have joined Jammu or New Delhi in recent days report a climate of terror in the region. According to them, the Muslim holiday of Aid took place under high surveillance on Monday . A large majority of mosques remained closed and according to these same witnesses, the imams were ordered not to mention the revocation of article 370 in their sermons, on pain of arrest.
The climate remains extremely tense, the calm being forcibly imposed for the moment, while the local population is largely unfavorable to the change of status of the state.
→ Read also: "The end of the special status of Kashmir is the last act of a long process"