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Kashmir's Main City a Maze of Razor Wire and Steel Barriers

Associated Press

   SRINAGAR, INDIA - The main city in the India-administered part of the
   disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir has turned into a vast maze of
   razor wire coils and steel barricades as drones and helicopters hover
   overhead.

   Wearing flak jackets and riot gear, paramilitary soldiers carry
   automatic rifles and shotguns to control the network of checkpoints and
   barricades across roads, lanes and intersections in Srinagar. The few
   vehicles and pedestrians allowed through are regulated through this
   maze.

   Although the 4 million residents of the Kashmir Valley, where an
   insurgency has simmered for decades, are used to blockades, the one
   imposed after the Indian government's surprise move last week to strip
   the region of constitutional privileges is something residents say
   they've never seen before. Amid the labyrinth whose entry and exit
   points are changed frequently, people find themselves disoriented in
   their own city, and struggle to memorize its frequently changing street
   map.

   "This is so vast, so expansive," resident Zameer Ahmed said as he
   prepared to enter one barbed passageway. "The entire Srinagar city has
   been knitted in razor wire to seek our silence and obedience."

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