SRINAGAR: Formore than a week, the young men of Soura, a densely populated enclave inKashmir's main city of Srinagar, have been taking turns to maintain anaround-the-clock vigil at the entry points to their neighborhood. Each of thedozen or so entrances have been blocked with makeshift barricades of bricks,corrugated metal sheets, wooden slabs and felled tree trunks. Groups of youthsarmed with stones congregate behind the biggest obstacles. The aim: to keepIndian security forces, and particularly the paramilitary police, out of thearea.
"We have novoice. We are exploding from within," said Ejaz, 25, who like many otherresidents in Soura interviewed by Reuters gave only one name, saying he fearedarrest. "If the world won't listen to us too, then what should we do? Pickup guns?" Soura, home to about 15,000 people, is becoming the epicenter ofresistance to Indian government plans to remove the partial autonomy that wasenjoyed by Jammu and Kashmir, the country's only Muslim-majority state.
The enclave,which has effectively become a no-go zone for the Indian security forces, isnow a barometer of the ability of Prime Minister Narendra Modi'sHindu-nationalist government to impose its will in Kashmir after its dramaticmove on Aug. 5 to tighten its control over the region. The change, thegovernment said, was necessary to integrate Kashmir fully into India, tacklecorruption and nepotism, and speed up its development, which Modi says is thekey to securing lasting peace and defeating terrorism.
In Soura, it'shard to find anyone who supports Modi's move. Many of the more than two dozenresidents interviewed by Reuters over the past week referred to the Indianprime minister as "zaalim", an Urdu word meaning "tyrant".The constitutional change will allow non-residents to buy property in Jammu andKashmir and apply for jobs in local government. Some Muslims in Kashmir saythey fear that India's dominant Hindu population will overrun the lush state atthe foot of the Himalayas, and Kashmiris' identity, culture and religion willbe diluted and repressed.
"We feellike we are guarding the LOC here," said Ejaz. The LOC refers to the Lineof Control, the highly militarized de facto border between the Indian andPakistani-controlled parts of Kashmir. For decades, Kashmir has been a sourceof friction between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan. Both nations claim theregion in full and have fought two wars over the territory since 1947.
Residents inSoura say that dozens of people have been injured in clashes with theparamilitary police over the past week. It is unclear how many have beendetained. A spokesman for the Jammu and Kashmir government declined to answerquestions from Reuters. The Indian government's Home Ministry did not returncalls and emails seeking comment.
Daily battles
In Srinagar, thegovernment has banned gatherings of more than four people, set up scores ofroadblocks to prevent movement, and detained more than 500 politicians,community leaders and activists. Internet and cell phone services have been outfor more than two weeks throughout the city and the rest of the Kashmir valley,making it difficult for opponents of the government's decision to organize protests.
Landline phoneservice has begun to return to the region but not to Soura, which is best-knownfor a Muslim shrine and a well-regarded teaching hospital. Residents have foundother ways to organize. When they spot security forces trying to enter thearea, residents say they rush to a mosque and sound the alarm by playing adevotional song calling for people to "stand against illegaloccupation", or by issuing an alert over the loudspeaker.
At intersectionsin the warren of narrow lanes that make up Soura, a largely lower middle classarea with a lake and marshy wetlands to its west, there are piles of bricks andstones for use against Indian troops. At one barricade, concertina wire hadbeen strung across the road. The young men patrolling the barrier said the wirehad been stolen from Indian security forces.
A protest on Aug.9, when people took to the streets after Friday prayers, marked Soura as thefocal point of resistance to the Indian government's decision. As residentsfrom surrounding neighborhoods joined the demonstration, the crowd swelled toat least 10,000, according to local police sources. More than a dozen residentstold Reuters that around 150 to 200 security personnel in riot gear attemptedto enter Soura after the protests, resulting in clashes with residents thatwent on late into the night, as police fired tear gas and metal pellets.
The Indiangovernment initially denied there had been a protest, and said there had beenno gathering in Soura involving more than 20 people. It later said there hadbeen a demonstration of 1,000 to 1,500 people, after TV footage of the crowdwas broadcast by the BBC and Al Jazeera. Since then, Soura has been the sceneof smaller demonstrations and daily running battles with the security forces,according to people living in the neighborhood.
The securityforces have made several attempts to enter Soura, according to residents, withthe apparent goal of sealing off a large area of open ground next to the JinabSahib shrine that has become an assembly point for protesters. "Every daythey are trying to attack us here, but we are fighting back," said Owais,in his early twenties. "We feel like we are trapped."
India'sparamilitary police say they are determined to regain control of the area."We have been trying to enter, but there is a lot of resistance in thatneighborhood," said an Indian paramilitary police official in Srinagar whospoke on condition of anonymity. Another senior security official told Reuterson the condition of anonymity that "some of the youth of the area arehighly radicalized" and it is "a hotbed of militancy". Islamistmilitant groups, he said, were influential in the area.
Drones andhelicopters
Separatists havefor the past three decades fought Indian rule in Kashmir, a conflict that haskilled 50,000 people, according to the Indian government. Human rightsactivists say the toll is much higher. Many Kashmiris favor independence orjoining India's Muslim-majority arch-rival Pakistan. The Islamic State, whichwants to establish a "caliphate" across the Islamic world, has alsoclaimed responsibility for some attacks on Indian troops in Kashmir in the pastcouple of years.
Historically, theinsurgency has largely been led by militants from Pakistan, who haveinfiltrated across the Line of Control. But there have also been a significantnumber of local Kashmiris who have picked up arms in recent years. While thelevel of support for Islamist groups in Soura is unclear, posters with picturesof militants can be seen on many walls and electricity poles. That includesBurhan Wani, a popular young commander of the largest Kashmiri militant groupHizbul Mujahideen. Wani, who was born on the Indian side of the border, waskilled by security forces in 2016, sparking deadly protests and curfews thatlasted months.
The battle overSoura has received little coverage in the Indian media. That is partly becauseof the communications blackout in the region but also as many local TV channelsand newspapers have emphasized the government's position - that there is littleresistance in Kashmir to its plans. In Soura, the reality is different.
Fearing acrackdown by security forces, some traders selling Kashmiri Pashmina carpetsand shawls here have shut shop. Fishing and lotus farming in the enclave'spolluted Anchar Lake continues, but those involved say it is difficult to gettheir produce out of the area. And the security situation means people'smovements are restricted. Indian paramilitary police are present at every exitroute from Soura. Surveillance drones and helicopters have been seen flyingover the area.
Makeshift medic
Some locals saidthe Indian security forces were keeping a close watch on the local hospital,the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, with the aim of arrestinginjured protesters. People who have been hit by pellets fired by the securityforces say they have avoided going to hospitals because they fear beingdetained. "We don't go to the hospital unless it's something serious or we'rehit in the eye," said Yawar Hameed, a physiotherapist who has been helpingthe injured. In a two-storey wooden home, Hameed was bent over 45-year-oldBashir Ahmed, cleaning a pellet wound near Ahmed's left eye with a swab ofcotton wool dipped in Betadine disinfectant.
But Hameed, 23,had no training for treating pellet wounds, he said. Ahmed winced in pain asHameed used forceps to remove a pellet from his lower back. After severalattempts, he succeeded in extracting a small silver metal ball. Minutes later,two young men were brought into the room. They knelt down and pulled off theirT-shirts, revealing bloody marks across the front of their torsos where theyhad also been hit by pellets. "If we have to live here, we need to knowhow to do this," said Hameed.- Reuters