SRINAGAR: For more than a week, the young men of Soura, a densely populated enclave in Kashmir's main city of Srinagar, have been taking turns to maintain an around-the-clock vigil at the entry points to their neighbourhood.
Soura, home to about 15,000 people, is becoming the epicentre of resistance to Indian government plans to remove the partial autonomy that was enjoyed by Jammu and Kashmir, the country's only Muslim-majority state. In Soura, it’s hard to find anyone who supports Modi’s move. Many of the more than two dozen residents interviewed by Reuters over the past week referred to the Indian prime minister as"zaalim", an Urdu word meaning"tyrant".
Landline phone service has begun to return to the region but not to Soura, which is best-known for a Muslim shrine and a well-regarded teaching hospital. A protest on Aug 9, when people took to the streets after Friday prayers, marked Soura as the focal point of resistance to the Indian government’s decision.
Since then, Soura has been the scene of smaller demonstrations and daily running battles with the security forces, according to people living in the neighbourhood. The security forces have made several attempts to enter Soura, according to residents, with the apparent goal of sealing off a large area of open ground next to the Jinab Sahib shrine that has become an assembly point for protesters.
The Islamic State, which wants to establish a"caliphate" across the Islamic world, has also claimed responsibility for some attacks on Indian troops in Kashmir in the past couple of years.
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