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Photographer: Tauseef Mustafa/AFP via Getty Images Photographer: Tauseef Mustafa/AFP via Getty Images

Thousands of citizens have been swept up in a campaign of mass arrests following a decision by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to end seven decades of autonomy in Kashmir, with 609 people still in custody three months after the region was locked down.



Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority region, lost its special status on Aug. 5 after a surprise announcement in parliament by Home Minister Amit Shah. Since then authorities have arrested 5,161 people, including separatists, political workers and people who pelted stones during protests, G. Kishan Reddy, junior home minister, said in a written reply in Parliament Wednesday. Most people were later released.

Read more: In Kashmir All Is Silent, But It’s Far From Peaceful

Still, some of Indian Kashmir’s most senior political leaders including former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti remain in detention months after. Abdullah’s father, federal lawmaker Farooq Abdullah, is also in custody and has not been in parliament during the current session that began Monday.

When the government ended Kashmir’s special constitutional status it also placed restrictions on movement and communication in order to quell any protests, cutting phone lines. mobile phone services and internet connections. While landlines and some mobile services have been restored, the Kashmir valley is still without internet connectivity.

The government said the situation is inching towards normalcy, with school and colleges have opened and hospitals and health centers “fully” operational. Internet connections will be restored as soon as the local administration thinks the time is right, Shah said Wednesday in the upper house of Parliament.