Indian troops clamped tight restrictions on mosques across Indian-occupied Kashmir for Monday’s Eidul Azha festival, fearing anti-government protests over the stripping of the Muslim-majority region’s autonomy, according to residents.
The Himalayan region’s biggest mosque, the Jama Masjid, was ordered closed and people were only allowed to pray in smaller local mosques so that no big crowds could gather, witnesses said
Occupied Kashmir has been in a security lockdown for eight days as India’s Hindu nationalist government, led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), seeks to snuff out opposition to its move to impose tighter central control over the region.
Internet and phone communications have been cut and tens of thousands of troop reinforcements have flooded the main city of Srinagar and other Kashmir Valley towns and villages.
Authorities had eased restrictions temporarily on Sunday to let residents buy food and supplies for Eid, one of the most important Muslim festivals of the year.
But security was tightened again after sporadic protests involving hundreds of people during the day, residents said. Police vans toured the streets late on Sunday telling people to stay indoors.
“I can’t believe we are forced to be in our homes on this festival. This is the festival of joy and happiness,” resident Shanawaz Shah told AFP.
Too scared to eat
Indian-occupied Kashmir police chief Dilbagh Singh said people “have been asked to offer prayers locally”.
Singh insisted that occupied Kashmir was peaceful despite the protests.
“One incident in downtown Srinagar does not define the entire valley or the state,” he said.
Residents said the security crackdown had made them too fearful to celebrate.
A sheep trader at a Srinagar market, who gave his name as Maqbool, said the number of people buying animals for traditional feasts was sharply lower and he had gone from “huge profits” last year to a “big loss” this time.
Several thousand people took part in one rally after Friday prayers that was broken up with tear gas and shotgun pellets. But authorities denied there was any protest.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has insisted the constitutional changes to occupied Kashmir are needed to bring peace and prosperity to a region blighted by a decades-old insurgency against Indian rule that has left tens of thousands dead.
He has won widespread backing in India for the move.
But local Kashmiri leaders say that stripping the region of its autonomy risks worsening the unrest.
Many Kashmiri political leaders have been detained and Indian media reports said some had been taken to detention centres outside the state.
