India Claims All Restrictions Lifted From Kashmir

By Riyaz ul Khaliq



The Indian government claimed on Friday that all restrictions have been lifted from Jammu and Kashmir.

In a submission made to the Supreme Court of India, the federally-administered government said no-one was killed in police firing since Aug. 5 when India scrapped special provisions granted to the disputed region under the Constitution.

The provisions allowed Jammu and Kashmir to enact its own laws and protected the region's citizenship law, which barred outsiders from settling in or owning land in the territory.

"Orders under section 144 CrPC [prohibitory restrictions] have been removed from all 195 [plus 7 in Ladakh = 202] Police Stations. Restrictions are imposed at some places in night," an official statement issued by the governor's office said.

The Indian government in the past few weeks has eased restrictions on the Muslim majority state. Land lines and post-paid cell phone services have been restored.

Internet can be accessed through government-designated kiosks.

However, all key leaders of the region are either under house arrest or being held in prisons.

Several rights groups including the Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have repeatedly called on India to lift restrictions and release political detainees. Nearly 13,000 people were detained during the period, civil society groups claimed.

The government added that all schools have been reopened and examinations are going on as scheduled.



The statement went on to say incidents of stone pelting, a common form of protest by residents against what they term Indian occupation, have decreased.

Since armed resistance began in the region the early 90s, the governments said, 41,866 people were killed.

India and Pakistan both hold Kashmir in parts and claim it in full. China also controls part of the contested region, but it is India and Pakistan who have fought two wars over Kashmir.



Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan. -