Section:GDN 1N PaGe:19 Edition Date:190807 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 6/8/2019 20:57 cYanmaGentaYellowbl
Wednesday 7 August 2019 The Guardian •
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prompted warnings from China,
which controls a thinly populated
part of the disputed region.
In Kashmir people watched the
news unfold on television, the only
source of information, and began
to meet on the streets in residential
districts, where some movement
was allowed. “ People congregated
in small groups everywhere within
the residential areas ... there was this
apprehension that things are going
to get worse because this is what
India does,” said Siraj, after fl ying to
Delhi on Monday night.
Concerns had grown over the
last week as a series of government
orders leaked to the media began
to spread panic. One order told
Indian Railways staff in the Kashmir
valley to stock enough dry rations
to last four months and forecast a
“deteriorating situation”. An extra
10,000 troops were sent to the
already heavily militarised territory,
prompting fears that Delhi could end
Kashmir’s special status.
Rumours intensifi ed further
when, in an unprecedented move,
the government curtailed a Hindu
pilgrimage to a Himalayan cave
shrine – a 45-day trek begun by
about 300,000 people in July.
Pilgrims and tourists rushed to
the airport and several countries,
including Britain, warned against all
travel to Jammu and Kashmir. The
government cited security risks and
claimed it had evidence of planned
attacks on pilgrim routes, though
analysts questioned whether the
response was proportionate.
In Kashmir evacuations and
curfews continued to be imposed
on hospitals and educational
institutions over the weekend.
Prominent local leaders met amid
concerns that Delhi might be moving
to curtail Kashmir’s autonomy.
Hours before India’s home minister,Amit Shah , addressed MPs, the
leaders were put under house
arrest. The ruling Bharatiya Janata
party has repeatedly promised to
end Kashmir’s special status. After
the landslide victory of the prime
minister, Narendra Modi, the BJP
had control of the lower house
of parliament, guaranteeing the
proposals would pass.
Scrapping Kashmir’s special
status has long been a demand of
the BJP’s Hindu nationalist support.
Analysts say Delhi could be trying to
assert itself regionally, as Pakistan
regains favour with the US, which is
seeking Islamabad’s cooperation in a
peace deal for Afghanistan.
Siraj said they were “not afraid”,
with some people banking on the US
to intervene or a case to be brought
to the international court of justice.
“ The next generation of Kashmiris,
they are diff erent, they don’t take
anything lying down , ” he said.Joan E Greve Washington
AgenciesDonald Trump has hit back at Barack
Obama after the former president said
Americans must “soundly reject lan-
guage” from any leader who “feeds
a climate of fear and hatred or nor-
malises racist sentiments” in his fi rst
public statement since mass shootings
in Texas and Ohio that left 31 people
dead.
Obama’s statement did not mention
Trump directly, but told Americans
“we are not helpless” in the face of
the country’s high frequency of mass
shootings. “And until all of us stand
up and insist on holding public offi -
cials accountable for changing our gun
laws, these tragedies will keep hap-
pening,” Obama wrote.
On Tuesday, Trump cited a segment
on the TV news show Fox & Friends in
response, quoting host Brian Kilmeade
as saying: “Did George Bush ever con-
demn President Obama after Sandy
Hook? President Obama had 32 mass
shootings during his reign. Not many
people said Obama is out of control.
Mass shootings were happening before
the President even thought about run-
ning for Pres.”
Trump has faced fi erce criticism for
identifying video games, the internet
and mental illness – but not guns – as
the cause of the slaughter that left at
least 31 dead and 53 injured in less than
24 hours over the weekend.
He has also been accused of embold-
ening white nationalists through his
racist statements. The suspect in the El
Paso attack posted a racist, anti-immi-
grant screed featuring language used
by Trump shortly before the rampage,
investigators say.
Trump is expected to visit El Paso
and the scene of Sunday’s shooting, in
Dayton, Ohio, today. Beto O’Rourke,
the 2020 presidential candidate and
former El Paso congressman, was
among the Democrats who held
Trump culpable and opposed the visit.
“We do not need more division. We
need to heal. He has no place here,”
O’Rourke tweeted.
Obama advised Americans to
reject “leaders who demoni se those
who don’t look like us, or suggest that
other people, including immigrants,
threaten our way of life, or refer to
other people as sub human ”.
Such language ha d “been at the
root of most human tragedy ”, Obama
added, and ha d “no place in our poli-
tics and our public life ”.
Trump has spent weeks stoking
racial resentments, tweeting that four
US congresswomen of colour should
“go back” to their countries and derid-
ing parts of Baltimore as “a disgusting,
rat and rodent -infested mess”. Demonstrators
in Lahore protest
at India’s move
to end Kashmir’s
autonomous
status. Pakistan
has long laid
claim to the
Muslim-majority
Indian state
PHOTOGRAPH:
MOHSIN RAZA/
REUTERSTrump and
Obama in war
of words after
mass shootings
‘Bam – there’s
a curfew,
internet
is cut, phone
lines are
snapped’Gauhar Siraj
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