Kashmir under lockdown, residents starve

People of Kashmir fear growing food shortages among the region’s poorest as it enters the third day of an unprecedented lock-down.

Since Monday, the Indian administered state of Jammu and Kashmir have been under strict curfew and communications blackout enforced by India.

The movement of goods, currency, and people in and out of the region is also being strictly controlled and people are only allowed to leave their homes to travel to the airport or the hospital.

Along with this, most of the ATM’s in the valley have gone out of service due to the currency shortages.

Many inhabitants of the valley have expressed their thoughts of mounting desperation as food supplies and money have dried up, as prices skyrocketed due to panic buying as rumors circulated of an imminent curfew - leaving many of Kashmir's poorest without key supplies.

Muneer Ahmad, who owns a shop at the Jahangir Chowk, said he was running out of essential goods.

He expressed his concerns to The Telegraph, saying, "whatever old stock we had is sold out and now we are running out of necessary goods like milk and flour, and the way security has been placed on roads it is highly unlikely that any goods will enter the valley any time soon." 

"This seems to be a long curfew where people will starve," Muneer said disconsolately. 

The curfew is contributing to growing hunger as residents are too scared to leave their homes.

Pakistan, which also claims ownership of Jammu and Kashmir in its entirety, escalated its unyielding response to the removal of Article 370 today.

It announced it would be suspending bilateral trade with Delhi and expelling the Indian High Commissioner, as well as taking its objections to the United Nations Security Council.

Kashmiri residents have been entirely cut off from the outside world since the Indian government scrapped Article 370 on Monday that had granted the state’s population autonomy since 1947.