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India
This Week in AsiaPolitics

In Kashmir, the Indian government is always watching

  • Constant monitoring has whipped residents into near paranoia, as drones fly over Friday prayers in mosques and police inspect cameras
  • The revocation of Kashmir’s special status has led to increased surveillance, long a mainstay of New Delhi’s approach to managing the restive state

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A Kashmiri boy displays a placard from a window at a protest site after Friday prayers. Photo: Reuters
Ahmer KhanandAdnan Bhat
On August 23, as the residents of Anchar in Srinagar, in Indian-administered Kashmir, were preparing for Friday prayers at the local mosque, multiple police surveillance drones hovered above them.
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After the prayers concluded, children unsuccessfully attempted to bring down the drones by hurling stones high into the air. Young boys hid their faces and avoided looking up, fearing pictures taken by the drones could be later used against them by local police.

Later, men and women of all ages holding placards urging the United Nations and Western powers to take up the Kashmir issue gathered in the compound of the mosque for another protest. As they began their march, the drones above them followed.

Waving flags, the protesters shouted anti-India and pro-freedom slogans. They moved through small alleys on the periphery of Anchar Lake. The drones above kept on their tail. Soon the protesters were intercepted by a party of Indian paramilitary forces, who fired tear gas and pellet guns into the crowd to disperse them. The young men in the protest retaliated with stones.

The confrontation lasted more than two hours. When the dust settled, two young men had suffered pellet injuries, while another young boy had been hit in the shin by a tear gas shell.

Kashmiris run for cover as a tear gas shell fired by Indian security forces explodes on August 23. Photo: Reuters
Kashmiris run for cover as a tear gas shell fired by Indian security forces explodes on August 23. Photo: Reuters
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Nazir Ahmad, a resident, said police had been using multiple drones to monitor the area at all hours. Although Indian paramilitary troops have been unable to gain access to the neighbourhood, they guard all entries to the area. According to locals, this is to prevent protesters from marching on the main road where more people could join them.

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