SRINAGAR: For the thousands of residents of the Kashmir valley, the eerie quiet is a forewarning of the silence before the storm.
With the Indian government’s unprecedented curfew and complete shutdown of communication network entering its fourth week, there’s a wave of simmering anger that seems to have overtaken Indian-administered Kashmir and is reflected on the walls and along streets of the valley.
“People are imprisoned at home... Deprived of news. Everything, including cable TV, is shut down. We are not aware of what is happening in the outside world,” Shahid, a Kashmiri trader told Arab News.
Residents of the valley were confined to their homes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government abrogated the Article 370 and 35A of India’s constitution – both of which accorded a special status and autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir.
The decision resulted in a deep sense of betrayal for the people of Kashmir, with several saying they already felt alienated in one of the world’s highest militarized zones.
“Since there is a widespread curfew in place in Kashmir that’s why people’s anger is not surfacing. Once the curfew is lifted people will react very aggressively,” Mohsin, a Kashmiri businessman said.
Arab News took to the streets of Srinagar throughout the last few weeks of August to speak to residents and understand what it takes to be under involuntary house arrest.
Watch this video which explains why the residents of the valley remain in a state of self-declared disobedience against the government even as Indian authorities relaxed the curfew in certain pockets of the city and ordered local administration to reopen schools.
Kashmiris lie low as deafening silence warns of the storm ahead
Kashmiris lie low as deafening silence warns of the storm ahead
- Residents of the valley say they will defy the ‘annexation by India’
- Several said they felt a deep sense of betrayal and are living in a state of self-declared disobedience
Pakistan urges equal application of international law, flags Indus treaty at UN debate
- Pakistani envoy says silence over violations of international law are fueling conflicts from South Asia to Gaza
- He urges the UN secretary-general to use the Charter’s preventive tools more proactively to help avert conflicts
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s UN ambassador on Monday called for equal application of international law in resolving global conflicts, warning that India’s decision to hold the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance and the unresolved dispute over Kashmir continued to threaten stability in South Asia.
Speaking at an open debate of the UN Security Council on “Leadership for Peace,” Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad said selective enforcement of international law and silence in the face of violations were fueling conflicts worldwide, undermining confidence in multilateral institutions.
His remarks come months after a brief but intense military escalation between India and Pakistan in May, following a gun attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir. India blamed the attack on Pakistan, a charge Islamabad denied while calling for a transparent international probe.
The attack triggered a military standoff between the two South Asian nuclear neighbors and prompted New Delhi to suspend the World Bank-brokered Indus Waters Treaty, a move Pakistan says has no basis in international law and has described as “an act of war.”
“India’s unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty — a rare and enduring example of successful diplomacy — is yet another blatant breach of international obligations that undermines regional stability and endangers the lives and livelihoods of millions,” Ahmad told the council.
He said Jammu and Kashmir remained one of the oldest unresolved disputes on the Security Council’s agenda and required a just settlement in line with UN resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people, a position India has long rejected.
Ahmad broadened his remarks to global conflicts, citing Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and other crises, and said peace could not be sustained through “selective application of international law” or by sidelining the United Nations when violations occur.
The Pakistani envoy also referred to the Pact for the Future, a political declaration adopted by UN member states this year aimed at strengthening multilateral cooperation, accelerating progress toward the 2030 development goals and reforming global governance institutions.
While welcoming the pact, Ahmad warned that words alone would not deliver peace, pointing to widening development financing gaps, rising debt distress and climate shocks that he said were reversing development gains across much of the Global South.
He called for a stronger and more proactive role for the UN Secretary-General, including earlier use of preventive tools under the UN Charter, and urged the Security Council to demonstrate credibility through consistency, conflict prevention and greater respect for international court rulings.
“No nation can secure peace alone,” Ahmad said. “It is a collective endeavor, requiring leadership, cooperation and genuine multilateralism.”
