Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir – On August 5, the Indian government withdrew Article 370 of India’s constitution, which gave the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir partial autonomy.

The article, abrogated in a cloak-and-dagger manner by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, was followed by the imposition of a stringent curfew in the Himalayan region and the snapping of phone and internet connections.

On Tuesday, the worst lockdown in more than 70 years of conflict in Kashmir will enter its 100th day.

India’s move also included bifurcating Jammu and Kashmir – India’s only Muslim-majority state – into two “union” territories, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, to be administered by the federal government.

The abrogation of Article 370, done in the garb of uniting and strengthening the “territorial integrity of India”, had been appearing in the BJP’s election manifestos for several years.