India 'Projects Normality' For Kashmir G20 Summit

Srinagar has been spruced up ahead of the tourism meeting but a resident tells Shweta Sharma people do not feel safe in their homes amid a surge of ‘unprecedented’ security activity

- Shweta Sharma

India has begun hosting a controversial G20 tourism summit in the picturesque Kashmir valley, where it stands accused of an “unprecedented surge” of raids and arrests on the local population on the pretext of preventing terrorism.

Kashmir, which is administrated in parts and subject to broader territorial claims by India, Pakistan and China, is one of the most heavily militarised regions in the world, and several G20 member states including China, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are staying away from the summit.

A family in the area’s largest city Srinagar was recently woken in the middle of the night to loud bangs on the door from about 20 to 30 Indian military personnel. Several gun-toting security personnel locked the family inside, Asad Rehman*, one of the family members, told The Independent.

“One security personnel used me as a shield and I could hear his gun clicking behind me before he asked me to take them to the top floor room,” Rehman said. After entering the room, the military personnel nodded at each other as one of them said: “We’re in the right house. It was that moment when I thought this is it, the house might blow up any moment or I will be shot, and began saying final prayers in my head.”

Rehman said security forces kept his elderly parents inside one room and did not allow them to leave, asking them to turn the lights off throughout the raid. “The security forces verbally abused and harassed [us] for nothing. They just came and began checking without offering any explanation. It was the most traumatic night of our lives as we were clueless about what was happening and why,” he said.

“They came without asking permission and left without giving an explanation.”