This may sound like the plot of a dystopian novel, but it is almost exactly what’s happening in the Indian-administered Kashmir Valley right now.
Fortunately, senior US officials will have a golden opportunity to address this human rights crisis this week when Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivanand Acting Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells visit India for diplomatic meetings. They must take advantage.
The communications blackout in Kashmir has accompanied the Indian government’s announcementof plans to revoke a constitutional provision that granted Jammu and Kashmir’s governing autonomy and change it from a state to a union territory, essentially bringing it under federal control.