Sat 31 October 2020:
Shops and businesses are shut in several parts of Indian-administered Kashmir in a general strike called to protest against new laws that allow Indians to buy land in the disputed region.
Government forces in riot gear patrolled streets in Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar in anticipation of anti-India protests. Public transport also stayed off the roads.
Saturday’s strike in Kashmir is biggest general strike since losing its semi-autonomous status last year, with local anger brewing over a new measure allowing outsiders to buy land in the disputed territory.
The Himalayan region has been divided and disputed between India and Pakistan for more than 70 years and has seen decades of unrest that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government changed the constitution to bring the territory under direct federal rule last year, sparking protests and a months-long internet blackout.
Shops and businesses stayed shut on Saturday and most residents kept at home after a shutdown was called by a coalition of political and religious groups that want self-determination for the region.
Extra Indian security forces patrolled the nearly empty streets.
This week New Delhi announced the abolition of laws that meant only the 12 million permanent Indian Kashmir residents could own land there.
Former chief minister Omar Abdullah said Kashmir had been “put up for sale and left bereft of any basic protections”.
“The amendments add to the fear of demographic changes. They want to alter the character of this place,” said Abdullah, who was among hundreds of political leaders detained for months during last year’s protests.
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