Authorities arrested more than 100 separatists in raids across Jammu and Kashmir and sent thousands of reinforcements to the troubled state yesterday as Prime Minister Narendra Modi stepped up warnings to Pakistan over a suicide bomb attack.
As international concern grows over India-Pakistan sabre-rattling, residents of Kashmir reported heightened military activity.
The state has been on edge since the February 14 attack on a convoy which killed 40 troopers of the Central Reserve Police Force and was claimed by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohamed (JeM).
India has accused Pakistan of supporting the attack – a claim rejected by Islamabad.
About 10,000 paramilitaries started arriving in Kashmir yesterday, a day after India ordered the reinforcements.
Modi told a rally in Rajasthan that the country was “angry” about the attack in the Pulwama district of Kashmir.
“We will not sit quietly after taking this pain. We know how to crush terrorism,” he added.
“We have given full freedom to the military.”
Among those taken into custody in the crackdown in Kashmir were senior figures in Jamaat-e-Islami, the region’s biggest religious organisation, and the Hurriyat Conference, a coalition of local political parties.
“Police and other agencies launched a mass arrest drive and raided many houses in the valley with dozens of central and district-level leaders arrested,” Jamaat said in a statement, adding that those detained included central leader Abdul Hamid Fayaz.
Police linked the arrests to security preparations for upcoming elections in India and a Supreme Court hearing tomorrow on a challenge to a constitutional provision that gives Kashmiris special rights to property and jobs in the territory.
“Anti-election campaigns will not be allowed and separatists will be detained to ensure free, fair and transparent elections in the state,” a police official said.
Yesterday there were increasing signs that the military clampdown in Kashmir and the government’s threats against Pakistan were prompting panic buying of fuel, medicines and food.
There were queues outside petrol pumps and grocery stores were packed with people stockpiling food.
Mohamed Amin Rather, owner of A-Z grocery Store in the Rajagh area of Srinagar, said: “People are buying rice, edible oil, pulses, eggs and other essentials in bulk.
We are busy and supplies are running out.”
A government directive to hospitals to ensure they have stores of drugs triggered some of the concerns.
“People in the valley, especially the cities and towns, are taking everything said or done as a sign that some big trouble is just around the corner,” said former chief minister Omar Abdullah.
But the arrests drew widespread criticism from Kashmir political leaders.
“Fail to understand such an arbitrary move which will only precipitate matters,” another former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said on Twitter.
“You can imprison a person but not his ideas.”
“Such illegal and coercive measures against Kashmiris are futile and will not change realities on ground,” said separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.
Businesses across Kashmir were shut yesterday, some in protest at the arrests and with others fearing conflict between India and Pakistan.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan has vowed retaliation if his country is attacked.
The showdown has sparked international concern with US President Donald Trump calling it “very dangerous”.
“We would like to see it stop,” he added in comments at the White House on Friday.
“India is looking at something very strong. India just lost almost 50 people with an attack. So I can understand that also,” Trump said.
Thousands have marched in the streets across India since the latest attack – some to pay homage to the dead soldiers and others to demand a hardline government response.
Many have called for India to boycott its World Cup cricket game against Pakistan in June.
Police in Kolkata yesterday arrested 40 people protesting to demand removal of Pakistani cricketers’ photographs from the city’s Eden Gardens stadium.
“More than 40 people were arrested. The security has been tightened around the stadium,” city police chief Anuj Sharma said.
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