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India to Ease Kashmir Lockdown for Friday Prayers

Reuters

   SRINAGAR, INDIAN KASHMIR - Authorities plan to relax curbs in India's
   Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir to allow people to offer
   Friday prayers, media said, as a five-day lockdown damped protests over
   the withdrawal of the Himalayan region's special status.

   Seeking to tighten its grip on the contested region, the Indian
   government this week withdrew the state's right to frame its own laws
   and allowed non-residents to buy property there.

   Since Sunday mobile networks and internet services have been suspended,
   at least 300 leaders detained and public gatherings banned, effectively
   confining residents to their homes to stop protests in the revolt-torn
   region.

   There will be "some relaxation" for Friday prayers, K. Vijay Kumar, an
   adviser to the state's governor, told the Indian Express newspaper.

   The prayers are likely to be held in neighborhood mosques, and not the
   main mosque in the region's main city of Srinagar, media said.

   "The forces have been given flexibility to impose prohibitory orders
   with minimum force and maximum compassion," Kumar said, adding there
   had been only a few cases of stone pelting in parts of Srinagar.

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