SRINAGAR: Five people were killed in a gun battle between armed Kashmiris and Indian forces in India-held Kashmir on Sunday as New Delhi intensified a crackdown. The authorities detained more than 160 Kashmiri fighters at the weekend.

According to police, three members of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), the group that claimed the suicide car bombing which killed 40 Indian paramilitary police on Feb 14, died in the shootout, as did a senior police officer and an Indian soldier.

Three more soldiers were wounded in the battle in Turigam, a village in Kulgam district, defence and police officials said. One of the dead fighters was a foreigner, said a police officer.

Indian authorities claim to have killed eight fighters and detained around 50 people, including sympathisers and their relatives since the bomb attack, which also sparked the roundup which New Delhi says is needed to “head off trouble” in the run-up to a general election to be held by May.

Most of those rounded up over the last two days were linked to the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI).

“Since JI has a wider network across Kashmir and they are mobilising anti-India protests, their arrest could help in curbing such protests ahead of elections,” a police official said.

One well-known Kashmiri leader, Abdul Gani Bhat, was placed under house arrest on Sunday, according to his political party.

Kashmiri groups called a strike on Sunday to protest the detentions. Many shops, petrol stations, and businesses closed, with few people and vehicles on streets in sensitive areas, except for troop patrols.

In some areas of Srinagar, the government limited the movement of people and vehicles.

“The restrictions have been imposed as a precautionary measure to avoid any untoward incident,” police said.

Fuel supplies low

The government of India-held Kashmir said fuel rationing had been introduced in the Valley as there was only enough gasoline for one day, diesel for four days and no liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

The government said it would seek to increase supplies and that shortages are the result of road blockages after the suicide bomb attack.

Indian paramilitary troops in riot gear arrived in strength at first light, said Shakeel Ahmad, a resident of Nowhatta, in Srinagar district.

“At places, they have blocked the main roads with steel barricades and concertina wire,” he said.

The occupied state’s governor, Satya Pal Malik, called on residents not to believe “rumours of any extreme nature”. The government said an increase in police numbers was to prevent candidates and voters from being intimidated into not standing or voting in India’s general election.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who chairs the Hurriyat Conference, said arbitrary arrests and jailing of leaders, activists and young people for their political beliefs had happened across Kashmir for 30 years.

“Intimidating activists and leadership will not deter them from their path, nor will it stop people from demanding the resolution of the Kashmir dispute through self-determination,” he said.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2019