India's national security adviser, Ajit Doval, has camped in Srinagar to monitor situation, officials said. Hundreds, including top pro-India Kashmiri leaders, have either been put under house arrest or formally arrested. The crisis also led to tensions between Indian soldiers and Kashmiri police officials, who say they were kept in the dark about the Indian plans.
In at least three places, scuffles were reported between Indian paramilitary soldiers and local police officials leading to injuries on both sides, according to three police and two paramilitary officers. They all spoke on condition of anonymity because government forces have been strictly barred from briefing reporters. Local police have increasingly come under pressure from freedom fighting against Indian rule since 1989, who have warned them to stay away from India's counterinsurgency operations.
After ordering Indian and foreign tourists as well as Hindu pilgrims to leave Kashmir last week, police have quietly been asking hundreds of thousands of Indian migrant laborers to leave as well. "Every Indian tourist will be seen with suspicion that they're here as part of an ethnic flooding plan," said Bashir Ahmed, a tour operator whose family also runs houseboats on the famed Dal Lake in Srinagar. "This is something we will have to deal with and can dampen the tourism industry now."
Months earlier, the largest indigenous freedom movement group, Hizbul Mujahideen, warned that "every Indian would become a legitimate target if India scrapped the region's special status."
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