Kashmir tensions intensify amid India-Pak skirmishes – Tourists evacuate

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SRINAGAR, India, Aug 4, (AP): Tensions have soared along the volatile, highly militarized frontier between India and Pakistan in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, as India deployed more troops and ordered thousands of visitors out of the region. Indian firing Sunday along the Line of Control that separates Kashmir between the rivals wounded a woman as the ongoing skirmishes spread fear in border villages, Pakistani police said.

The frontier residents on the Pakistani side are either moving out to safer places or have begun construction of new bunkers, with some strengthening existing shelters near their homes. Pakistan and India, who both claim Kashmir in its entirety, routinely blame each other for initiating border skirmishes, but the latest ones come amid the Indian government’s evacuation order of tourists and Hindu pilgrims and a troop buildup in its part of the region.

The measures have sparked fears in Kashmir that New Delhi is planning to scrap an Indian constitutional provision that forbids Indians from outside the region from buying land in the Muslim-majority territory. In recent days, Hindu-majority India has deployed at least 10,000 troops in Kashmir, with media reports of a further 25,000 ordered to one of the world’s most militarized regions.

Situation
In Pakistan’s portion of Kashmir, Mohammad Fareed, a retired government employee in Tufrabad village near the Line of Control, said he had spent over $3,000 to construct a concrete bunker for his family of 10. “It looks like the situation is getting bad,” he said, adding that the recent shelling and the dropping of cluster bombs had created massive fear. “People are using their savings to build bunkers.

After all, if you live you will do other things,” said Fareed. Mohammad Altaf, a trader dealing in construction material, confirmed that people were buying concrete blocks and crushed stone to construct bunkers in and around their homes. But Mohammad Nasim opted to shift his family from Chakoti village to a safer place. “God knows what will happen the next day so it’s not wise to make a bunker. Instead I am moving away from the border area,” he said. Raja Farooq Haider, the prime minister of Pakistani- controlled Kashmir, announced Friday the sanctioning of about $19 million for community bunkers for residents living along the border.

Kashmir has grabbed the spotlight in recent days, months after a deadly militant attack on an Indian paramilitary convoy sparked cross-border air attacks and brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war. The recent escalation has come amid offers by President Donald Trump to mediate to resolve the Kashmir issue. While Pakistan welcomed the offer, India rejected it, saying the dispute was between the two countries.

Amid the evacuation order, hundreds of Indian and foreign visitors, including some Hindu pilgrims, continued congregating outside the main terminal at the airport in Srinagar, the region’s main city, seeking seats on flights out. The Indian air force flew 326 tourists out of Srinagar, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. Out of 11,301 tourists, only 1,652 remained on Saturday, PTI said. In its election manifesto earlier this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party promised to do away with special rights for Kashmiris under India’s constitution.

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