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Traveling and collecting personal testimonies from Kashmiri civilians, a team of economists and activists offer a glimpse into the silenced streets of Srinagar and neighboring villages. The report finds unanimous anger in Kashmir against the Indian government for the abrogation of Article 370, widespread curfews in public spaces and no space for peaceful protests.
Topics: separatist movement, abrogation of article 370 and 35A, repression of freedom of speech, misleading national propaganda
Terms: denial of justice, information blockade, internet blockade, denial of right to freedom of assembly
A summary of our observations
• There is intense and virtually unanimous anger in Kashmir against the Indian government’s decision to abrogate Articles 370 and 35A, and also about the way this has been done.
• To control this anger, the government has imposed curfew-like conditions in Kashmir. Except for some ATMs, chemists’ shops and police stations, most establishments are closed for now.
• The clampdown on public life and effective imposition of curfew have also crippled economic life in Kashmir, that too at a time of the Bakr Eid festival that is meant for abundance and celebration.
• People live in fear of harassment from the government, army or police. People expressed their anger freely in informal conversation, but no-one was willing to speak on camera.
• The Indian media’s claims of a rapid return to normalcy in Kashmir are grossly misleading. They are based on selective reports from a small enclave in the centre of Srinagar.
• As things stand, there is no space in Kashmir for any sort of protest, however peaceful. However, mass protests are likely to erupt sooner or later
August 2019
Originally published
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