Under the curtain: Kashmir residents contend with pellet guns and restrictions
Kashmir Updates - CNN- August 23,2019
When the Indian government stripped the stateof Jammu and Kashmir of its autonomy and reclassified it as a union territory earlier this month, it left many citizens there in a state of confusion and concern.
Anticipating public backlash to the move on August 5, India deployed tens of thousands of additional troops and swept a dark, virtual curtain across its portion of the disputed Kashmir region it controls with a communications blackout, travel curfews, and roadblocks.
The government has repeatedly assured the world that life there is getting back to normal and any unrest has been minor.
But scraps of information trickling out of the region tell a different story.
Officials in Srinagar, the capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir, tell of mass detentions and residents say tear gas and pellet guns are being used against Kashmiri citizens and restrictions on movement are still in place. Two local officials told CNN that more than 2,000 people were detained in Jammu and Kashmir in the days leading to, and after, the August 5 decision, including political leaders, elected representatives, lawyers, activists, businessmen and students.
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