page_title: Srinagar
section_title: Post independence
hierarchical_section_title: Srinagar / History / Post independence
caption_attribution_description: Srinagar, India: city and its vicinity in 1959. Original description at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/kashmir.html: "Portion of sheet NI 43-6 Srinagar. Edition May 1959. Original scale 1:50,000 Compiled in 1954 from Survey of India. Published by the U.S. Army Map Service, July 1959 (146K) Not for navigational use."
context_page_description: Srinagar is the largest city and the summer capital of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its natural environment, gardens, waterfronts and houseboats. It is also known for traditional Kashmiri handicrafts like Kashmir shawls and also dried fruits. It is the northernmost city of India with over one million people.
context_section_description: After India and Pakistan's independence from Britain, villagers around the city of Poonch began an armed protest at the continued rule of Maharaja Hari Singh on 17 August 1947. In view of the Poonch uprising, certain Pashtun tribes such as the Mehsuds and Afridis from the mountainous region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan, with the backing of the Pakistani government, entered the Kashmir valley to capture it on 22 October 1947. The Maharaja, who had refused to accede to either India or Pakistan in hopes of securing his own independent state, signed the Instrument of Accession to India in exchange for refuge on 26 October 1947, as Pakistani-backed tribesmen approached the outskirts of Srinagar. The accession was accepted by India the next day. The government of India immediately airlifted Indian Army troops to Srinagar, who engaged the tribesmen and prevented them from reaching the city.
  In 1989, Srinagar became the focus of the insurgency against Indian rule. The area continues to be a highly politicised hotbed of separatist activity with frequent spontaneous protests and strikes ("bandhs" in local parlance). On 19 January 1990, the Gawakadal massacre of at least 50 unarmed protestors by Indian forces, and up to 280 by some estimates from eyewitness accounts, set the stage for bomb blasts, shootouts, and curfews that characterised Srinagar throughout the early and mid-1990s. Further massacres in the spring of 1990 in which 51 allegedly unarmed protesters were allegedly killed by Indian security forces in Zakura and Tengpora heightened anti-Indian sentiments in Srinagar. As a result, bunkers and checkpoints are found throughout the city, although their numbers have come down in the past few years as militancy has declined. However, frequent protests still occur against Indian rule, such as the 22 August 2008 rally in which hundreds of thousands of Kashmiri civilians protested against Indian rule in Srinagar. Similar protests took place every summer for the next 4 years. In 2010 alone 120 protesters, many of whom were stone pelters and arsonists, were killed by police and CRPF. Large scale protests were seen following the execution of Afzal Guru in February 2013. In 2016, after the death of militant leader Burhan Wani, there were mass protests in the valley and about 87 protesters were killed by Indian Army, CRPF and police in the 2016 Kashmir unrest.
  The city also saw increased violence against minorities, particularly the Hindu Kashmiri Pandits, starting from mid-1980s and resulting in their ultimate exodus. Posters were pasted to walls of houses of Pandits, telling them to leave or die, temples were destroyed and houses burnt; but a very small minority of pandits still remains in the city. The recent years have seen protests in Srinagar from local Kashmiri pandits for protection of their shrines in Kashmir and their rights.
  After revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and the subsequent devolution of the state into a union territory in August 2019, a lockdown was imposed in Kashmir, including in Srinagar. This lockdown has been ongoing for over a year. Thousands, including two former chief ministers, were arrested during this lockdown.
caption: Srinagar city and its vicinity in 1959
exif: {}