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One Year Later, Human Rights Violations Continue in Indian Kashmir

Ayesha Tanzeem

   ISLAMABAD - One year after India revoked partial independence for a
   territory under its control, residents and human rights groups say the
   situation in Indian-controlled Kashmir remains deeply disturbing.

   "(H)undreds of people remain detained without charge, critics are
   threatened with arrest, and access to the internet is limited," wrote
   Human Rights Watch, an international rights monitoring group, in a
   press release Tuesday.

   Local authorities enacted a curfew Tuesday and Wednesday in
   anticipation of protests marking the one-year anniversary of a change
   in the Indian constitution that revoked article 370, which granted the
   Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir state special status.

   While the decision was later reversed, Sheikh Akeel, a university
   student in Srinagar, said locals felt like they were imprisoned.

   "Since August 5 last year we are living under a fascist regime like
   prisoners in an open-air cage, he said. "Killings, arrests, detentions
   under draconian laws, destruction of property while the world has
   turned a blind eye toward us."

   Kashmiri journalist Muheet ul Islam described security barricades and
   bunkers on roads. "Government forces are seen deployed everywhere," he
   said.

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