The Indian government has deployed thousands of troops to India-administered, Muslim-majority Kashmir amid fears that its expected downgrade from a state to a union territory could spark uprisings in the restive Himalayan region.
An Indian paramilitary soldier guards during security lockdown in Jammu, India, Tuesday, Aug.6, 2019. India's lower house of Parliament was set to ratify a bill Tuesday that would downgrade the governance of India-administered, Muslim-majority Kashmir amid an indefinite security lockdown in the disputed Himalayan region.
The situation in Kashmir was unclear after the government shut off most communication with it, including internet, cellphone and landline networks. Thousands of troops were deployed to the restive region amid fears the government’s steps could spark unrest. The lower house was expected to easily ratify the bill downgrading Kashmir from a state to a union territory with a legislature and carving out Buddhist-majority Ladakh, a pristine, sparsely populated area that stretches from the Siachen Glacier to the Himalayas, as a separate union territory without a legislature.
Tensions also have soared along the Line of Control, the volatile, highly militarized frontier that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan, which both claim the entire region. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s top military commanders were meeting in the garrison city of Rawalpindi to discuss the changes in Kashmir.
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