Lockdown in Kashmir as India sends in thousands more troops

Authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir placed large parts of the disputed region under lockdown early Monday while India sent in tens of thousands of additional troops and traded accusations of clashes with Pakistan at their de facto border.

Communications were cut, with private  mobile networks, internet services and telephone landlines cut, an AFP reporter said.

Before the network disruptions, senior former and current Kashmiri political leaders tweeted that they had been put under house arrest.

The Himalayan region has surged back into the spotlight in the past few days, months after a militant attack on an Indian paramilitary convoy claimed by a Pakistan-based group sparked cross-border airstrikes by the nuclear-armed rivals.

They have controlled parts of the region since the end of British colonial rule on the subcontinent in 1947.

But both claim it in full and have fought two of three wars over the territory, where a decades-long insurgency on the Indian side has killed tens of thousands.

"As per the order, there shall be no movement of public and all educational institutions shall also remain closed," the state government ordered for Srinagar, the capital of Indian-administered Kashmir, and surrounding areas in a statement obtained by AFP.

"There will be a complete bar on holding any kind of public meetings or rallies during the period of operation of this order."

Universities, schools and colleges in the Hindu-dominated Jammu were ordered to be shut, and one district in that region was placed under lockdown.

Several other major districts of the Muslim-majority state were also placed under restrictions, local media reported.

SS