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Amid Lockdown in Kashmir, Indian Parliament Approves Resolution to Revoke Its
Special Status

Anjana Pasricha

   NEW DELHI - Ayaz Gul in Islamabad, Pakistan, contributed to this
   report.

   As Kashmir remained locked down for a second straight day, India's
   parliament approved scrapping the special status that gave Kashmir
   significant autonomy, and passed a bill to split the state.

   Plunged in a communications blackout and a virtual shutdown, it has
   been difficult to ascertain the reaction local residents to the radical
   steps.

   Curfew-like restrictions continued on Tuesday. Troops patrolled
   deserted streets with barbed wire barricades in the capital, Srinagar,
   while the internet, mobile and landlines remained suspended to stem
   protests in the region wracked by a violent separatist struggle for
   three decades.

   The measures passed by an overwhelming majority in the lower house of
   parliament are being seen as a message that Prime Minister Narendra
   Modi will take a tough stance on Kashmir and with rival Pakistan, with
   whom India has a long-running dispute over control of the Himalayan
   region.

   After the vote, Modi called it a "momentous occasion in our
   parliamentary democracy." In a tweet he said, "Together we are,
   together we shall rise, and together we will fulfill the dreams of 130
   crore Indians!"

   The steps fulfill a long-standing pledge of his Hindu nationalist
   Bharatiya Janata Party to end the constitutional provision that allowed
   Kashmir to have its own constitution and draft its own laws on all
   matters except foreign affairs, defense and communications.

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