The visitors found that there was a ‘determined and systematic effort’ on the part of the Centre to ‘portray a sense of normalcy in the Valley
Jaipur: An 11-member team comprising advocates, trade unionists, human rights activists and a psychiatrist visited Kashmir between September 28 and October 4 this year. The trip, largely to gauge the situation in the region since the reading down of Article 370 on August 5, gave the visitors the impression of a ‘determined and systematic effort’ on the part of the Centre being in play, to ‘portray a sense of normalcy in the Valley.’
This, said the team while releasing their findings in a report titled Imprisoned Resistance at New Delhi, was largely due to justify the Centre’s unilateral action of snatching the autonomy of the Kashmiri people.
“The Indian government and the mainstream media have consistently propagated normalcy by showing images of traffic flow in Srinagar that were created artificially to be later recorded by drone cameras,” reads the resultant report.
Communication blockade and restricted mobility
The report made several notes on how movement and communication had been severely clamped down upon in the valley.null
“Jammu and Kashmir State Road Transport Corporation has suspended operations since August 5. Only those with private vehicles are able to travel, that too with much difficulty given the barbed wires at multiple locations. Though landline services were eventually restored, we learnt that very few houses actually have functioning landlines.”https://m.thewire.in/article/rights/kashmir-fact-finding
