India, bracing for protests, puts Kashmir on lockdown

India has placed Kashmir under high security order and deployed tens of thousands of government forces to the volatile Himalayan region on the death anniversary of a popular pro-independence figure.

According to Press TV, the curfew was enforced in the Indian-administered Kashmir on Saturday, with the government cutting off all internet services and blocking all roads leading to Tral, the hometown of the 23-year-old Burhan Wani, the independence figure who was killed in a shootout with Indian troops last July.

“I have never seen restrictions of this magnitude before,” said one local speaking on condition of anonymity, adding that residents would be shot if they left their homes.

Reports said businesses remained closed in the main city of Srinagar, and authorities seized thousands of motorbikes to prevent people traveling between villages in the area.

Wani’s death in July 2016 sparked a large wave of violent protests across Kashmir. Nearly 100 people lost their lives and over 12,000 were wounded in the ensuing crackdown.

The anniversary comes at a time of heightened tensions along the Line of Control, the de-facto border that divides the disputed Himalayan territory between India and Pakistan.

Witnesses and police also said clashes erupted when a number of people found their way to their homes blocked and started pelting stones at government forces. Security forces were prompted to fire tear gas in order to disperse the crowd. No one was immediately reported injured in the clashes.

Tensions are high in the Indian-administrated Kashmir region, where the Muslim-majority population stages regular protests against Indian rule and demands autonomy from New Delhi.

ME