NEW DELHI, 24 August. - (ANA) — On August 5, at 1:15 a.m., Asifa Mubeen was woken up by the sound of barking dogs as police officers began pouring into her yard.

 

Her husband, Mubeen Shah, a wealthy Kashmiri merchant, stepped out onto their bedroom balcony in the night air. The officers shouted that he was under arrest. When he asked to see a warrant, his wife said, the officers told him there wouldn’t be one.  This is illegal and unconstitutional.

 

“This is different,” they said. “We have orders.”

 

It was the start of one of the biggest mass arrests of civilian leaders in decades carried out by India, a close American partner that bills itself as one of the world’s leading democracies.

 

Local officials say that at least 2,000 Kashmiris — including business leaders, human rights defenders, elected representatives, teachers, and students as young as 14 — were rounded up by the federal security forces in the days right before and after the Indian government unilaterally stripped away Kashmir's autonomy.

 

The detainees have not been able to communicate with their families or meet with lawyers. Their whereabouts remain unknown. Most were taken in the middle of the night, witnesses said.

 

Critics say that even under India’s tough public safety laws this is illegal, and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is bending the Indian legal system to cut off any possible criticism in Kashmir and go after anyone with a voice — be that a successful merchant like Mr. Shah, a politician or a professor.

 

“Kashmir is silent as a graveyard,” said Vrinda Grover, a human rights lawyer.

 

The Indian government isn’t sharing what charges the detainees face or how long they will be held. Some were reported to have been flown on secret air force flights to jails in Lucknow, Varanasi and Agra.

 

Political analysts say the mass roundup was the final piece of a detailed plan that Mr. Modi’s government set into motion last year. This included postponing state elections in Kashmir to create a gap in local leadership. Indian officials then changed India’s Constitution and moved to erase Kashmir’s autonomy and statehood without any input from Kashmiris — though many lawyers have said that might not be legal, either.

 

Bringing Kashmir to heel has been a Hindu-nationalist dream. It was India’s only Muslim-majority state (it is now to become two federally administered territories) and a place where Pakistan, India’s archrival, enjoys some support. Kashmir was an obvious sore for the nationalist political movement that has flourished among India’s Hindu majority, powering Mr. Modi’s stunning rise.

 

This is a very dangerous game Modi is playing that may lead to dire consequences for India and Pakistan.  - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/24 August 2019 - - -