India arrests hundreds in Kashmir

International Desk: Indian security forces have arrested more than 500 people since New Delhi imposed a communications blackout and security clampdown in divided Kashmir, where people remained holed up in their homes for a fourth day, reports jerseyeveningpost on Thursday.

Pakistan, which claims the divided Himalayan region together with India, on Thursday suspended a key train service with India over a change in Kashmir’s special status by New Delhi, as tensions between the rivals soared.

India’s government this week revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and downgraded the region from statehood to a territory. Rebels in Muslim-majority Kashmir have been fighting Indian rule in the portion it administers for decades.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to address the nation on Thursday to discuss Kashmir. His national security adviser Ajit Doval visited the region on Wednesday to assess the law and order situation.

Pakistan’s foreign minister said Islamabad is not considering any military actions and instead is looking at political and legal options to challenge India’s changes.

Activist Ali Mohammed told New Delhi Television that he has been organising ambulances to carry sick poor people to hospitals in Srinagar, the main city in India’s portion of Kashmir, as local residents cannot even use phones to ask for medical help.

India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over control of Kashmir. The first ended in 1948 with a UN-brokered ceasefire that left Kashmir divided and promised its people a UN-sponsored referendum on the region’s future.

Agencies

risingbd/Dhaka/Aug 8, 2019/Nasim