Kashmir: Pro-India lawmaker arrested under controversial law
A pro-India lawmaker was arrested in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Monday, marking the latest move in a string of government clampdowns in the region. Farooq Abdullah, the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and current parliament member, was arrested by police under the controversial Public Safety Act — a law that allows authorities to imprison people for up to two years without a trial.
The 81-year-old is the first high-profile pro-India politician to be arrested under the law known as the Public Safety Act. Abdullah has already been under house arrest since August 5, when the Indian government called an end to Kashmir’s special semi-autonomous status, which had been in place since 1947.
“We have arrested him, and a committee will decide how long the arrest will be,” said police official Muneer Khan. Indian authorities have defended the law as necessary to maintain peace in the area.
But Amnesty International has denounced the Public Safety Act as a “lawless law” and said it is an attempt on behalf of the authorities to circumvent the legal system and undermine human rights in the region.
‘4,000 arrests’
So far an estimated 4,000 people have been arrested in the Jammu and Kashmir region, according to a report dated September 6, although many have since been released. More than 200 politicians are among them, including Abdullah’s son Omar Abdullah, who also served as Chief Minister of the region from 2009 to 2015.
India’s Supreme Court has released a plea to the Indian central government and to authorities in Jammu and Kashmir for Abdullah to appear before trial as soon as possible.
‘Lockdown must end’
The arrest comes as authorities attempt to crack down on protests and unrest in the weeks since the region was stripped of its special status. India’s removal of the autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir has strained ties with Pakistan, which has also claimed parts of the region.
The Indian-controlled region has also experienced frequent communication blackouts since August 5. Pakistan’s ambassador to Germany told Deutsche Welle on Friday that India must end this lockdown in order to restore diplomatic relations with Pakistan and find a solution to unrest in the area.
ed/stb (AP, Reuters, AFP)
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India-Pakistan rivalry: Kashmiris pay a high price
An unprecedented danger?
On February 27, Pakistan’s military said that it had shot down two Indian fighter jets over disputed Kashmir. A Pakistani military spokesman said the jets were shot down after they’d entered Pakistani airspace. It is the first time in history that two nuclear-armed powers have conducted air strikes against each other.
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India-Pakistan rivalry: Kashmiris pay a high price
India drops bombs inside Pakistan
The Pakistani military has released this image to show that Indian warplanes struck inside Pakistani territory for the first time since the countries went to war in 1971. India said the air strike was in response to a recent suicide attack on Indian troops based in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan said there were no casualties and that its airforce repelled India’s aircraft.
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India-Pakistan rivalry: Kashmiris pay a high price
No military solution
Some Indian civil society members believe New Delhi cannot exonerate itself from responsibility by accusing Islamabad of creating unrest in the Kashmir valley. A number of rights organizations demand that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government reduce the number of troops in Kashmir and let the people decide their fate.
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India-Pakistan rivalry: Kashmiris pay a high price
No end to the violence
On February 14, at least 41 Indian paramilitary police were killed in a suicide bombing near the capital of India-administered Kashmir. The Pakistan-based Jihadi group, Jaish-e-Mohammad, claimed responsibility. The attack, the worst on Indian troops since the insurgency in Kashmir began in 1989, spiked tensions and triggered fears of an armed confrontation between the two nuclear-armed powers.
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India-Pakistan rivalry: Kashmiris pay a high price
A bitter conflict
Since 1989, Muslim insurgents have been fighting Indian forces in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir – a region of 12 million people, about 70 percent of whom are Muslim. India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars since independence in 1947 over Kashmir, which they both claim in full but rule in part.
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India-Pakistan rivalry: Kashmiris pay a high price
India strikes down a militant rebellion
In October 2016, the Indian military has launched an offensive against armed rebels in Kashmir, surrounding at least 20 villages in Shopian district. New Delhi accused Islamabad of backing the militants, who cross over the Pakistani-Indian “Line of Control” and launch attacks on India’s paramilitary forces.
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India-Pakistan rivalry: Kashmiris pay a high price
Death of a Kashmiri separatist
The security situation in the Indian part of Kashmir deteriorated after the killing of Burhan Wani, a young separatist leader, in July 2016. Protests against Indian rule and clashes between separatists and soldiers have claimed hundreds of lives since then.
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India-Pakistan rivalry: Kashmiris pay a high price
The Uri attack
In September 2016, Islamist militants killed at least 17 Indian soldiers and wounded 30 in India-administered Kashmir. The Indian army said the rebels had infiltrated the Indian part of Kashmir from Pakistan, with initial investigations suggesting that the militants belonged to the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad group, which has been active in Kashmir for over a decade.
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India-Pakistan rivalry: Kashmiris pay a high price
Rights violations
Indian authorities banned a number of social media websites in Kashmir after video clips showing troops committing grave human rights violations went viral on the Internet. One such video that showed a Kashmiri protester tied to an Indian army jeep — apparently as a human shield — generated outrage on social media.
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India-Pakistan rivalry: Kashmiris pay a high price
Demilitarization of Kashmir
Those in favor of an independent Kashmir want Pakistan and India to step aside and let the Kashmiri people decide their future. “It is time India and Pakistan announce the timetable for withdrawal of their forces from the portions they control and hold an internationally supervised referendum,” Toqeer Gilani, the president of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front in Pakistani Kashmir, told DW.
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India-Pakistan rivalry: Kashmiris pay a high price
No chance for secession
But most Kashmir observers don’t see it happening in the near future. They say that while the Indian strategy to deal strictly with militants and separatists in Kashmir has partly worked out, sooner or later New Delhi will have to find a political solution to the crisis. Secession, they say, does not stand a chance.
Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/kashmir-pro-india-lawmaker-arrested-under-controversial-law/a-50445025?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf