- Title: Kashmiri families frustrated with lockdown as isolation nears two weeks
- Date: 17th August 2019
- Summary: SRINAGAR, JAMMU AND KASHMIR, INDIA (AUGUST 17, 2019) (REUTERS) A KASHMIRI MUSLIM WOMAN LOOKING OUT AT THE MOUNTAINS FROM THE WINDOW OF HER HOUSE A YOUNG BOY AND GIRL LOOKING OUT OF THE CLOSED WINDOW FACE OF THE YOUNG GIRL PEEPING OUT OF THE WINDOW A KASHMIRI WOMAN AND A YOUNG GIRL CARRYING A CRATE OF POTATOES WOMEN SITTING INSIDE A ROOM FACE OF A VEILED WOMAN WOMAN IRONING CLOTHES WOMEN AND A YOUNG BOY INSIDE THE ROOM A WOMAN FOLDING A CLOTH (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) A KASHMIRI WOMAN FROM OLD QUARTERS OF SRINAGAR, ISHRAT, SAYING: "For 12 days we have been locked inside our houses, we cannot go out of our homes, we cannot go and get medicines, we have small children and we can't even go and buy toffees for them. There is nothing for us. We have relatives outside, brothers and sisters in countries outside but we have no contact or news of them. We have absolutely no information about their wellbeing." EYES OF ANOTHER WOMAN LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) A 9-YEAR-OLD GIRL, SIRAT, SAYING: "Police is outside, what can we do? We don't get anything and we are afraid. We can't go out and play, we can't go to school, we cannot do anything. We are only staying inside our home and by staying inside the house, we will go mad." WOMEN STANDING IN AN ALLEY NEXT TO THE ENTRANCE OF THEIR HOUSE AND LOOKING OUTSIDE A WOMAN WITH HER FACE COVERED WITH CLOTH GOING BEHIND THE DOOR AS AN ARMOURED VEHICLE DRIVES PAST HER HOUSE (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) A KASHMIRI SHOPKEEPER, MOHAMMED LAKIB MIR, SAYING: "This thing (removal of Article 370) that they have imposed on us, it's like they have hit a slap on our faces. We are not going to sit idle. We will starve to death but we will not compromise on our rights and our dignity, we will take our honour back." AN INDIAN PARAMILITARY FORCE GUARD KEEPING VIGIL SECURITY AT THE ENTRANCE OF ONE OF THE LANES IN DOWNTOWN SRINAGAR
- Embargoed: 31st August 2019 13:35
- Keywords: Jammu and Kashmir India Kashmiri families lockdown
- Location: SRINAGAR, JAMMU AND KASHMIR, INDIA
- City: SRINAGAR, JAMMU AND KASHMIR, INDIA
- Country: India
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA001ASLUMVJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Ishrat and her family are one of the seven million people who have been confined to their homes without any comms for the past 12 days in disputed Kashmir.
For the first five days after the government's move, parts of Srinagar had been turned into a fortress, blanketed with armed paramilitary and rolls of concertina wire blocking main streets.
People have been living in isolation, without any contact with the outside world, since the government's harsh clampdown in the Kashmir valley.
"We have small children and we can't even go and buy toffees for them," Ishrat said from her home in old quarters of Srinagar, long a center for protests.
Even though authorities have now begun to ease restrictions, there is still a lockdown in much of the region, including in some parts of Srinagar and in sensitive major towns. A posse of armed security personnel continues to patrol throughout the day and keep a tight vigil.
"Police is outside, what can we do? We don't get anything and we are afraid. We can't go out and play, we can't go to school, we cannot do anything. We are only staying inside our home and by staying inside the house, we will go mad," said Sirat, one of the youngest members of the Ishrat family.
A mom-and-pop store owner Mohammed Lakib Mir says he had to shut his shop and had to make do by selling tea and snacks near his house since the clampdown.
"It's like they have hit a slap on our faces. We are not going to sit idle. We will starve to death but we will not compromise on our rights and our dignity, we will take our honour back," Mir said.
Authorities say the crackdown is necessary to prevent disorder after a move they say will bring Muslim-majority Kashmir into line with the rest of India, help the economy and end a bloody insurgency. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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