''We are afraid'' says Kashmiri family living under lockdown
Last updated on: 17 August,2019 06:34 pm
A girl said that they can't even go outside to buy candies as they are afraid of the armed forces.
SRINAGAR (Reuters) - Ishrat and her family are one of the seven million people who have been confined to their homes without any comms for the past 12 days in disputed Kashmir.
For the first five days after the government’s move, parts of Srinagar had been turned into a fortress, blanketed with armed paramilitary and rolls of concertina wire blocking main streets.
People have been living in isolation, without any contact with the outside world, since the government’s harsh clampdown in the Kashmir valley.
""For 12 days we have been locked inside our houses, we cannot go out of our homes, we cannot go and get medicines, we have small children and we can’t even go and buy toffees for them. There is nothing for us. We have relatives outside, brothers and sisters in countries outside but we have no contact or news of them. We have absolutely no information about their well being," Ishrat said from her home in old quarters of Srinagar, long a center for protests.
Even though restrictions have now begun to allegedly ease, there is still a lockdown in much of the region, including in some parts of Srinagar and in sensitive major towns. A posse of armed security personnel continues to patrol throughout the day and keep a tight vigil.
"Police is outside, what can we do? We don’t get anything and we are afraid. We can’t go out and play, we can’t go to school, we cannot do anything. We are only staying inside our home and by staying inside the house, we will go mad," said Sirat, one of the youngest members of the Ishrat family.
A mom-and-pop store owner Mohammed Lakib Mir says he had to shut his shop and had to make do by selling tea and snacks near his house since the clampdown.
"It’s like they have hit a slap on our faces. We are not going to sit idle. We will starve to death but we will not compromise on our rights and our dignity, we will take our honour back," Mir said.