A nearly two-month curfew in the troubled Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir was partially lifted on Monday only to be largely re-imposed after fresh violence erupted in several parts of the capital, Srinagar.

For many people the easing of the curfew had been the first opportunity in 52 days to move freely outside their homes. The former Himalayan kingdom has been wracked by protests in the wake of the killing of a popular young militant separatist by security forces on 8 July.

The death of Burhan Wani, a commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen group, tipped Kashmir into one of its worst crises in years. At least 68 people have been killed to date and up to 10,000 injured during the clashes.

The saga has soured relations between Pakistan and India, who have been engaged in a decades-long dispute over the region.

Authorities announced the partial lifting of the curfew after declaring an improvement in the security situation. But in many areas residents swiftly came out to hurl stones at government forces and shout slogans demanding freedom from Indian rule.

Weeks of mobile phone network blackouts and movement restrictions have hit the poorest of Kashmir the hardest, with many people struggling to get hold of basic supplies from relief committees established across Srinagar.

Raja Begum, a 62-year-old widow living in a small home in downtown Srinagar, lost her daily earnings of 150 rupees a day selling clothes on the street.

“I tried to venture out of my house several times to get medicines but each time I was stopped by paramilitary forces,” said Begum, whose health has deteriorated without the drugs she needs.

Even without the curfew, shops remained closed after a strike was called by the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), an umbrella group of separatist parties, many of whose leaders have been arrested in recent weeks.

“People will not start their usual business until Delhi says it is open to full talks with the three parties – India, Pakistan and the resistance leaders,” said Hamida Nayeem, an academic at Kashmir University and an activist.

On 15 August, Islamabad extended a formal invitation to India for fresh bilateral talks on the Kashmir dispute. But the offer was rebuffed by India, with Delhi saying it would discuss cross-border terrorism, which it blames on clandestine support by Pakistan.

The lifting of the curfew allowed Nayeem to visit injured protesters recovering at Srinagar’s main hospital, many of them from serious pellet injuries to the eyes caused by shotguns used by security forces to disperse crowds.

She said she had seen more than 100 such patients on Monday, many of whom either had been blinded or had undergone multiple operations to try to salvage some of their eyesight.

“India has achieved new depths of degradation with this policy of aiming guns at people’s eyes,” she said. “They treat us as enemies rather than citizens.”

India has flooded even more security forces into a region that is already home to 500,000 soldiers. Many of the reinforcements have taken over schools for use as temporary bases.

The government of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, initially played down the crisis in Kashmir, but it has faced increasing pressure, including from army chiefs, to open a dialogue with separatist leaders.

In a radio address on Sunday, Modi expressed sadness at the loss of life in Kashmir but criticised “those trying to disturb peace in Kashmir by putting small children in the front and hiding behind them”.

India and Pakistan have fought three conflicts over the Muslim-majority region, which Pakistan believes should have been included inside its territory when the subcontinent became independent from Britain in 1947.

Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, announced over the weekend that he had appointed 22 parliamentarians as “special envoys” who would attempt to raise the issue internationally in the hope that foreign governments would exert pressure on India.

The violence in Kashmir has undermined Sharif’s dream of overseeing an improvement in relations with India.

Doubts are growing over whether Modi will attend a meeting of heads of government of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation due in the Pakistani capital on 9 November. </s> The decision to lift curfew was taken at a high level security meeting on Sunday evening, sources said.

Authorities on Monday lifted curfew from Kashmir after 51 days since the ongoing unrest began on July 9, officials said.

“Curfew has been lifted from the entire Valley. But, it will remain in force in Pulwama town and in areas under the jurisdiction of Nowhatta and M.R. Gunj police stations in Srinagar,” a senior police official told IANS.

The decision to lift curfew was taken at a high level security meeting on Sunday evening, sources said.

An all party delegation comprising senior leaders of political parties is slated to visit Kashmir on September 3.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is likely to accompany the delegation.

Meanwhile, separatists here continued their protest shutdown despite lifting of the curfew.

In a statement issued last week, the separatists have asked people to continue the shutdown until September 1.

All senior separatist leaders have been placed under detention in Srinagar city.

A total of 71 people — 68 civilians and three policemen — have been killed in this present bout of violence that started on July 9, a day after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed in a gunfight.

Over 11,000 others including civilians and security personnel were injured during this period. </s> Authorities lifted a curfew in Indian-administered Kashmir after 52 days of lockdown amid deadly violence, but street clashes broke out again Monday between protesters and security forces.

Restrictions were lifted throughout most of the tense Kashmir Valley including the main city of Sringar "following improvement in the situation", police said in a statement late Sunday.

It was unclear whether the relaxation of restrictions would continue in the northern Himalayan region, where 68 civilians and two police officers have been killed since the unrest erupted last month.

Schools and businesses remained closed on Monday and many streets in Srinagar were largely deserted as troops in riot gear patrolled on foot.

Hundreds of residents rallied in other parts of Srinagar and in the northern town of Bandipora after the curfew was lifted, throwing stones at security forces who fired live rounds into the air and tear gas to disperse them, witnesses and an AFP photographer said.

The current violence, the worst to hit the region since 2010, was triggered by the July 8 killing of a popular rebel leader, Burhan Wani, in a gunbattle with soldiers.

Several rebel groups including Wani's Hizbul Mujahideen have for decades fought some 500,000 Indian soldiers deployed in the territory, demanding independence for the region or its merger with Pakistan.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed for calm in the region on the weekend, criticising those responsible for encouraging youngsters to become involved in the recent unrest.

Kashmir has been divided between rivals India and Pakistan since their independence from Britain in 1947. Both claim the Himalayan territory in full.

Tens of thousands, mostly civilians, have died in the fighting since the armed rebellion against Indian rule began in 1989. </s> Indian officials lift curfew from most of Kashmir

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Authorities on Monday lifted a curfew imposed in most parts of Indian-controlled Kashmir as part of a 52-day security lockdown, although most shops and businesses remained closed due to an ongoing strike called to protest Indian rule in the disputed Himalayan region.

Government forces on Monday removed steel barricades and coils of barbed wire from the roads across the region, but officials said the curfew would continue in some parts of the old quarters of Kashmir's main city of Srinagar and in the southern Pulwama area.

Public transport was off the roads in Srinagar but some private vehicles were seen on the streets.

The curfew, a series of communication blackouts and a tightening crackdown have failed to stop some of the largest protests against Indian rule in recent years, triggered by the killing of a popular rebel commander on July 8.

Since then, tens of thousands of people have defied security restrictions, staged protests and clashed with government forces on a daily basis.

At least 68 civilians have been killed and thousands injured, mostly by government forces firing bullets and shotguns at rock-throwing protesters. Two policemen have been killed while hundreds of government forces have been injured in the clashes.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both. Most Kashmiris want an end to Indian rule and favor independence or a merger with Pakistan.

More than 68,000 people have been killed since rebel groups began fighting Indian forces in 1989 and in the subsequent Indian military crackdown. </s> Indian police impose curfew-like curbs across parts of region, a day after deadly clashes between protesters and police.

Indian police have imposed curfew-like curbs on movement of people across several parts of Indian-administered Kashmir, a day after clashes with protesters during a by-election killed eight people and injured more than 200.

Separatist factions in Kashmir have called for a two-day strike in protest on Monday.

Their calls to boycott the poll in Srinagar, and the ensuing violence, resulted in voter turnout of a mere seven percent on Sunday and forced 70 polling stations to shut down.

During clashes in Budgam district, police initially used tear gas against protesters who were throwing stones, but then opened fire, killing seven people, a senior police officer told Reuters news agency.

One protester was killed in a separate incident.

"This is a reaction to what is happening in Kashmir, because people are getting killed mercilessly," a young protester in Srinagar, who declined to give his name for fear of reprisal, told Al Jazeera.

"The youth are coming out to express our anger and dissent in every way possible."

Waheed Para, spokesman for Jammu and Kashmir state's ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP), told Al Jazeera: "We regret these killings. It will take some time to bring back a conducive environment in the state."

Shantmanu, chief electoral officer of Jammu and Kashmir, said "more than 200 incidents of violence" were reported on Sunday, including stone-pelting, petrol bomb attacks and setting ablaze of a polling station.

The by-election was held in the key city of Srinagar to fill a vacant seat in India's lower house of parliament, the Lok Sabha.

A second by-election in the state is set to take place on April 12 in Anantnag.

"We are worried about Anantnag polls because it is a more sensitive area," the police official said.

Security was beefed up on Monday across Kashmir, with police blocking roads with barricades and restricting movement of vehicles.

Some train services were also suspended in the region, a railway official said.

Kashmir, part of India's only Muslim-majority state, witnessed deadly protests after a well-known separatist commander was killed last year.

The violence has killed 84 civilians and wounded more than 12,000 civilians and security force personnel.

In a separate incident on Monday, Rajesh Kalia, Indian defence official, said four suspected fighters were killed after they tried to infiltrate along the frontier with Pakistan near an area known as the Keran sector.

"We noticed movement of militants early in the morning and killed them during an ambush," Kalia said.

REAd MORE: Mirza Waheed: 'Violence will not end Kashmir conflict'

Details of the incident could not immediately be independently verified.

Neighbours India and Pakistan claim divided Kashmir in full, but governs separate parts.

Two of the three wars they have fought since independence from Britain in 1947 have been over Kashmir.

Last September, tension escalated as armed men killed 19 Indian soldiers at an army camp in Kashmir, an attack India blamed on Pakistan-based fighters.

India accuses Pakistan of backing separatist fighters in the Himalayan region, a charge Pakistan denies. </s> This story is from August 30, 2016

Security forces patrol a deserted street in Srinagar. (AFP photo)

Pak oppn against Sharif's K-team

NC vows free legal aid to protesters

SRINAGAR/ NEW DELHI: For the first time in 52 days, curfew was lifted from the entire Kashmir valley, barring three police stations, on Monday, setting the stage for the visit of an all-party delegation to the state on September 4. However, curfew was reimposed in some parts at night after fresh tension. Home minister Rajnath Singh will lead the delegation in a bid to explore dialogue as part of a political process to bring peace to the valley.The team will meet a cross-section of individuals and outfits in Srinagar on September 4 and 5. The visit could be extended by a day if it goes to Jammu as well.While there is no official word on the entities the team will talk to, indications are that it will limit itself to the brief followed by the team which went to the state in 2010. Then, LJP member and now food minister Ram Vilas Paswan had met some Hurriyat leaders separately . This time too, the team may not talk to secessionists but members will be free to interact with anybody they wish to. The opposition has demanded a political ou treach since violent protests broke out in the valley. The timing of the delegation's visit seems to have been worked out during J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti's meetings with home minister Rajnath Singh in Srinagar and PM Narendra Modi in Delhi.Singh also held a discussion with BJP chief Amit Shah, finance minister Arun Jaitley and MoS in PMO Jitendra Singh, an MP from the state, in what was described as a stock-taking exercise. It was decided at this meeting that an all-party delegation should go to Srinagar as soon as possible. The Centre has informed other political parties about the visit.Meanwhile, J&K resumed a shadow of normalcy on Monday even though a few clashes were reported from a number of places in Srinagar and parts of Budgam district. Nobody was hurt in these incidents, police said.The areas that fall under three police stations -Nowhatta and Maharaj Gunj in Srinagar, and Pulwama -remained under curfew. Miscreants emerged on the streets in these areas and tried to create trouble.Rioters pelted stones on private vehicles, erected barricades and also threw stones at vehicles of security forces, leading to clashes at multiple places. Following the clashes, the authorities imposed restrictions in these areas. Intense clashes in the interiors of Batamaloo, Srinagar, led to the authorities reportedly reimposing curfew in the area. Police said there was “minor“ stone-pelting in some areas.The 22 lawmakers nominated by Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif as envoys to highlight the Kashmir issue in key nations have no credentials to do so, the nation's opposition parties said on Monday. Ex-cricketer Imran Khan's PTI and former president Asif Ali Zardari-led PPP have also rued the lack of opposition representation on the team. PTI's Asad Umar asked how the team would highlight the issue when most didn't even attend parliamentary debates.J&K opposition party National Conference said on Monday it would provide free legal assistance to youngsters arrested during the current spell of unrest in the valley. “The legal cell of NC in every district will provide free legal assistance to youths arrested on fictitious charges by the present government,“ party general secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar said. He added that an atmosphere of “lawlessness“ was being created in J&K.In Video: Curfew lifted from some parts of Kashmir after 51 days </s> Indian Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday moved a proposal to revoke the contentious Article 370 from occupied Kashmir, triggering chaos in Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament, as opposition lawmakers shouted slogans and started protesting.

Shah proposed that all regulation under Article 370 will not be applicable after Presidential nod, reported India Today.

According to First Post, Article 370 "specifies that except for Defence, Foreign Affairs, Communications and ancillary matters (matters specified in the Instrument of Accession), the Indian Parliament needs the state government's concurrence for applying all other laws. Thus, the state's residents lived under a separate set of laws, including those related to citizenship, ownership of property, and fundamental rights, as compared to other Indians."

With an indefinite security lockdown in place in Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK) and elected representatives under house arrest, a cabinet meeting was held on Monday morning at Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence.

After the meeting, Shah, who is also the president of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), addressed the Rajya Sabha amid loud protests by the opposition.

Journalists as well as opposition members in India have been questioning the reasoning behind the clampdown as well as placing former IoK chief ministers — Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti — under house arrest.

Read: Former IoK chief ministers Mufti, Abdullah placed under house arrest; curfew-like restrictions imposed

"While there has been no word from the government on the plan of action, speculation has been rife," the Indian publication added.

The cabinet meeting was held amidst a flurry of activity in the disputed region. The clampdown imposed late Sunday night has left millions stranded in their homes as authorities also suspended some internet services and deployed thousands of fresh troops around the increasingly tense region.

According to India Today, Indian opposition leaders also met in the parliament on Monday morning to discuss the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir.

Opposition leader in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad met with various party leaders in his office and discussed the security situation.

The two leaders place under house arrest — Abdullah and Mufti — had earlier warned the Centre against abrogation of Article 35A and Article 370, which gives special status to Kashmiris.

National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, reading out a resolution adopted at a meeting of regional parties, said they have decided to send delegations to meet the president, the prime minister and leaders of various political parties to apprise them of the consequences of any attempt to abrogate Article 370 and Article 35A of the constitution or carry out delimitation of constituencies or trifurcating the state, reported India Today.

The ruling BJP in India has consistently advocated an end to occupied Kashmir’s special constitutional status, which prevents outsiders from buying property there, arguing that such laws have hindered its 'integration' with the rest of India.

On Sunday, The Hindu reported that additional security troops had been placed in civilian installations and police stations and were put on “standby mode.”

The Indian government has admitted that 10,000 extra troops were sent to IoK a week ago. Media reports on Friday said a further 25,000 had been ordered there.

Kashmir politicians had long raised fears that the troops are sign that the Hindu nationalist government could carry out a threat to scrap occupied Kashmir's special status under the constitution.

Late on Sunday night, the Indian government imposed curfew-like restrictions in the restive region while India sent in tens of thousands of additional troops.

Communications were cut, with private mobile networks, internet services and telephone landlines cut, an AFP reporter said.

"There shall be no movement of public. All educational institutions shall also remain closed. There will be a complete bar on holding any kind of public meetings or rallies during the period of operation of this order. Identity cards of essential services officials will be treated as movement passes wherever required," read an Indian government order, but added: "there is no curfew in place". </s> A fter 50 days of curfew in the Kashmir Valley, the Central and State governments finally appear to be coming together on how to engage with the conflict and all the stakeholders involved. Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s visits to Srinagar appear to have, at least temporarily, calmed the air. A panel set up by the government is now looking at alternatives to the pellet guns used by the security forces: they have proved to be unacceptably lethal, and should have been abandoned already. An all-party delegation is expected to visit Srinagar in an attempt to reach out to people and kick-start a political dialogue. The process of normalcy can only begin once the restrictive curfew is lifted — but the government cannot sit back and wait for calm; it needs to foster it. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi underlined the gravity of the situation and sought to reach out by saying that each person who dies in the Valley is “one of our people”, there needs to be an actionable checklist to demonstrate the sincerity of the outreach. It is perhaps for all these reasons that after her meeting with Mr. Modi, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti called for the next step, a three-pronged action plan that would include talks with Pakistan and with the separatist leaders, many of whom are currently in prison.

While all of these steps are welcome and necessary, the government must recognise that they only address the violence, and not the deeper problem of alienation in Kashmir. They are but leaves out of the playbook used in 2008 and 2010, to bring the Valley back from the edge after street protests: visits to Srinagar by senior national leaders and all-party delegations, words of restraint for security forces, and words of empathy to Kashmiris. In the current round of violence, Mr. Modi must do better than ‘reinvent the wheel’. To chart a new course, he and Ms. Mufti must work on a sustained plan for dialogue in the State, even as he builds a consensus on how to deal with Pakistan. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s grand diplomatic plans to internationalise the Kashmir issue may be unlikely to meet with much success on the international stage, and will probably be countered at the UN with India’s new pitch for Pakistan to vacate “all of Kashmir”. But such grandstanding hardly addresses the real issues at hand. The bilateral stand-off should not blunt the internal dialogue. What is important right now is not what India does outside its borders, but inside them, in a carefully considered, positive and sustained manner. For, the absence of violence is not peace; it is merely an enabling condition for the pursuit of lasting peace. </s> NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Phone and internet services were suspended in Indian Kashmir on Monday and state leaders placed under house arrest, deepening fears that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government plans to weaken the special rights of residents in the disputed region.

The clampdown began in the early hours of Monday when Indian authorities said they were imposing restrictions on public movement and shutting all educational institutions in the main Srinagar city.

There has been no word on the clampdown from the federal government in New Delhi, which rules the troubled state since last year after Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew from a coalition with a local party.

The federal cabinet was meeting at Modi’s residence on Monday to discuss the situation, and Indian media said the government was likely to make a statement in parliament on the situation in Kashmir later in the day.

Some regional leaders around midnight tweeted saying they have been or feared being arrested.

The leaders had previously expressed fears that Modi’s federal government may try to withdraw decades-old special rights conferred on the state, including an amendment to the Indian constitution that prevents people from outside the state from buying property there.

There have also been concerns that Modi’s Hindu nationalist BJP could move to abolish Kashmir’s autonomous status, a plan that has in the past provoked warnings of a backlash in the Muslim-majority state.

Omar Abdullah, a former chief minister of the state, said he believed he was being placed under house arrest, appealing to people to stay calm.

Mehbooba Mufti, another ex-chief minister and Modi’s former ally, said it was “ironic that elected representatives like us who fought for peace are under house arrest.”

A spokesman for India’s federal home ministry in New Delhi did not respond to a request for comment.

“To place two former Chief Ministers under house arrest is unprecedented and unacceptable. Would it happen in any other state of India? Is this how we build trust among the Kashmiris?” prominent historian and columnist Ramachandra Guha said on Twitter.

Tensions in Kashmir, claimed by both India and Pakistan, have risen since Friday, when local Indian officials issued an alert over possible militant attacks by Pakistan-based groups.

Pakistan has rejected those assertions, but thousands of Indian tourists, pilgrims and workers left the region in panic over the weekend.

Indian authorities also issued a notice for Srinagar city saying there “shall be no movement of (the) public and all educational institutions shall also remain closed” until further orders.

Three local government officials told Reuters early on Monday that mobile internet services in the region had been suspended. Reuters was not able to reach its reporters in the region as the communication networks were blocked.
A curfew has ended in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir after 52 days of protest allowing for an all-party delegation to visit the state on Sunday.