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Pakistan
AsiaSouth Asia

Pakistan PM Imran Khan warns of war with India over crackdown in Kashmir

  • ‘India today is governed by a racist, a Hindu supremacist,’ Khan said, referring to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
  • He also warned of the potential for a ‘massacre’ in Kashmir once the curfew is lifted, citing the 900,000 Indian soldiers stationed there

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Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan. Photo: AFP
Associated Press
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan warned in blunt terms on Tuesday of possible war between Pakistan and India over what he called a brutal Indian crackdown in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
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The nuclear-armed rivals, have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir and have been locked in a worsening stand-off since August 5, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who Khan called a “racist”, stripped the portion of Kashmir that India controls of its limited autonomy. Indian authorities imposed a sweeping military curfew and cut off residents from all communications and the internet.

“For 50 days, the people of Kashmir have been locked down by 900,000 soldiers,” Khan said, describing mass arrests, non-functioning hospitals and “a total news blackout” in the region.

“Eight million people in an open jail is unprecedented in this day and age,” Khan said. “The biggest worry is what happens once the curfew is lifted? We fear with 900,000 soldiers there, there will be a massacre.”

India and Pakistan’s conflict over Kashmir dates to the late 1940s when they won independence from Britain. The region is one of the most heavily militarised in the world, patrolled by soldiers and paramilitary police. Most Kashmiris resent the Indian troop presence. Modi has defended the Kashmir changes as freeing the territory from separatism, and his supporters welcomed the move.

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US President Donald Trump said after an earlier meeting with Khan that it would be great if Modi and Khan can resolve their stand-off over Kashmir.

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