Iran Press/Asia: India has officially split the former state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories, a move that gives the government in New Delhi greater control over the disputed Muslim-majority region.
Since Thursday and despite the unrests continue, most of Jammu and Kashmir, including a section of the disputed Kashmir Valley controlled by India was stripped of its statehood and turned into one union territory.
The unprecedented move comes nearly three months after the government launched a security crackdown in Indian-controlled Kashmir, suspending all َcommunications and placing heavy restrictions on movement and public gatherings. Hundreds of people, including mainstream political leaders and opposition in Kashmir, remain in custody for fear that they could whip up mass protests that have in the past turned violent.
Tensions over the move have sparked protests in recent weeks, while around a dozen people from outside the state have been killed. Although some of the measures have since been scaled back, many schools, shops, and restaurants remain empty, with residents choosing to stay in their homes out of either fear or defiance. According to some experts, the move could open the way for a demographic change in India's only Muslim-majority state.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government withdrew Kashmir's autonomy in August but in addition, it also announced the division of the state into two territories to be directly ruled from New Delhi - one consisting of Jammu and Kashmir regions and the other the remote Buddhist enclave of Ladakh.
Both India and Pakistan claimed Kashmir and the two countries have fought two wars in an attempt to take control.
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