SRINAGAR (DNA) – Indian government’s imposition of stringent curfew, after abrogation of articles 370 and 35A of its Constitution through a rushed presidential decree on Aug. 5, entered its 24rd day on Wednesday.

According to Kashmir Media Service, Indian occupation forces are being anticipated to conduct a major crackdown in Kashmir’s Soura region, where violent clashes had erupted between protesters chanting slogans against New Delhi’s aggression and illegal moves in the Muslim-majority Himalayan region.

Kashmir has been an epicenter of wars between Pakistan and India for several decades since the partition of the sub-continent in 1947 after getting independence from the British rule.

Speaking on a condition of anonymity, a top Indian police official told the media that the Indian Army was preparing an operation in the area where, on Friday, a demonstration rally was held on the call of local leaders resisting Indian occupation.

Yesterday, scores of people defied the curfew again in south, north, and central Kashmir against India’s latest onslaught and attempt to alter demography of the region.

Many were injured when Indian Army soldiers opened fire, using pellets, bullets, and teargas shells on protesters in the Soura neighbourhood, it said, as New Delhi deliberately aimed to destroy businesses.

A handicrafts store owner, Sameer Wani, told media men that it was a ‘do-or-die’ situation for Kashmiris amid deliberate destruction of their businesses and trampling of basic rights by the occupational forces. Many protesters said that they were worried about their teenaged sons, who were abducted by the troops during nocturnal raids.

Meanwhile, people are facing severe shortage of food, medicines and other commodities due to unabated curfew and communication blockade.

Markets and schools are still shut while all internet and communication services including landline phone, mobile and TV channels are closed in Kashmir valley and districts of Jammu region. Local newspapers are offline while most of them failed to bring out their print editions.

Over 10,000 Kashmiris including hundreds of political leaders and workers like Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai continue to remain under house arrest or in jails. On 5th of August, the BJP government had scrapped the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

Leaders, belonging to various political parties including Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during a meeting in Drass, rejected the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and the Ladakh. They said that they would remain a part of Jammu and Kashmir.

Samajwadi Party leader, Akhilesh Yadav, addressing a press conference in Lucknow, slammed the Indian government for restricting the movement of people in Jammu and Kashmir, and said: “What happened in Kashmir can also happen to the people of Uttar Pradesh.”