In the evening on August 4, the Indian government put Kashmir under a security lockdown and communications blackout to pre-empt protests against the dismantling of its special constitutional status. Over 40 days later, Kashmir is yet to return to “normal”, the state’s police chief Dilbag Singh admitted.
There have been news reports about at least two deaths from pellet wounds and suffocation due to tear gas fired by the security forces in Srinagar over the past five weeks, and of children being detained illegally. But in an interview at his office in Srinagar on September 14, the director general of police denied both that any civilian had been killed in action by the security forces and that anyone had been unlawfully detained. Though over 3,000 people have been detained as “borderline offenders” so far, he added, a larger number of them have been released after counselling. And, even as the streets wore a deserted look, with almost all business establishments shut across Kashmir, Singh claimed the administration had ensured the people had access to essential commodities. Excerpts from the interview:
