SRINAGAR: Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi adopted a conciliatory tone for Kashmiris in his Independence Day speech in New Delhi, residents of the India-held region of Jammu and Kashmir largely remained indifferent to the anniversary, with many of them actually declaring and treating it as a ‘black day’.

The anti-India sentiments among the residents even adversely affected the main official function held in the disputed Himalayan region to mark India’s Independence Day, as not many people turned up for it. And most of those who did attend the event remained seated when India’s national anthem was played soon after Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had unfurled the Indian flag.

Only the people sitting in the VIP enclosure of Bakshi Stadium, including high court judges, legislators, bureaucrats and office bearers of some political parties, stood up to pay their respects to the anthem.

Only around 3,000 people were present in the stadium, which has a capacity of over 18,000.

Speaking from ramparts of Red Fort in the Indian capital, Modi said that neither abuses nor bullets would solve the Kashmir question. “Naa gaali se, naa goli se, parivartan hoga gale lagaane se... samasya suljhegi har Kashmiri ko gale lagaane se [Kashmir problem cannot be resolved by either bullets or by abuses. It can be resolved by embracing Kashmiris],” he said, referring to the ongoing uprising in the held Valley.

He claimed that only a handful of those he called “separatists” were resorting to various tactics to create problems in the region. But his government was committed to making Kashmir “a paradise once again”, he added.

The authorities had suspended internet and mobile phone services for the day and also imposed tough restrictions on movement of people as a precaution against possibility of widespread protests and demonstrations in the region.

Curfew and other restrictions were imposed in several parts of the held Valley, including Srinagar. The Bakshi Stadium had been sealed in the name of security, sources said. In the Lal Chowk area of the city at least 10 checkpoints were set up to carry out search and frisking operations.

Army and paramilitary personnel were deployed after every two kilometres or so on the Srinagar-Jammu highway. Similar arrangements were in place on the Srinagar-Baramulla highway.

Meanwhile, the joint resistance leadership, comprising Syed Al Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik, condemned imposition of curfew in Srinagar and other parts of the disputed region.

In a statement, the Kashmiri leadership said: “The curfew-like restrictions, bans, blockades and curbs are the standard response by India and its stooges to peaceful protests.”

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2017