It may sound like a cliché but this is the typical truth of the daily cinema of life in black and white on the eternally empty streets of Srinagar, though some cars do move, there is no official curfew, and journalists don’t need a curfew pass anymore.

A woman in salwar kameez, with a bag, or holding the hand of a child, briskly walks past a military check post, armed security forces, sand-bag barricades or barbed wires. Where is she going and why, when almost the entire population is holed up in their homes? This is a typical and classic image of the situation in Kashmir.

It’s like a war going on out there, with the security forces’ Vajra and armoured vehicles on the streets, while gun-toting soldiers stand on tops of jeeps surveying the streets. If you have seen World War II movies and documentaries, even films on fascism in Europe, for instance, Berlin or Paris under siege, Kashmir will remind you of these films.

India seems to have totally lost Kashmir, said a police officer, off the record. Even those — and they were many — who were decisively pro-India, seem to have turned around, with great unhappiness. Pro-Pakistan feelings have become strong, more entrenched, deriving more political legitimacy.

“Besides, whether you agree or disagree, Kashmir has been internationalised,” said a local journalist. “After 70 years, it was discussed in the United Nations. Donald Trump reiterated and then backtracked, but it was all over the international media that America was ready to mediate. China has not taken kindly to the recent developments in Kashmir and is fully backing a resurgent Pakistan. A watchful Russia has said it is a bilateral affair, but it sounds more like a tongue-in-cheek under-statement.”

Top politicians in the US have called upon India to stop human rights abuses, restore democratic rights and open the communication networks. Human rights bodies all over the world have condemned the violation of fundamental rights even while international media organisations like the Washington Post, The New York Times, BBC, The Guardian and Al Jazeera have consistently reported the ground situation in Kashmir, including the atrocities faced by the people. Indeed, Kashmir has become an international issue.

Of late, midnight raids seem to have stopped, and young people are apparently not being picked up any more. No one knows the exact count but locals allege that at least 4000 people, including politicians and several youngsters, have been picked up, most of whom are either under house arrest or imprisoned in Hotel Centaur next to the Dal Lake since the clampdown.

Traders and businessmen too have been arrested. No one knows the whereabouts of several men, including young boys, who have allegedly been sent to prisons in UP, like the Agra Jail. Parents are running from pillar to post to seek some news of their children.

There have been reports, including visual documentation, of torture and beatings by the police. Many times, it is reported that youngsters are beaten up brutally to seek the names of other young men in the neighbourhood. There is one dark video of women of a family running after security forces in the dead of the night after one young person in the family was forcibly dragged out.

On the night of August 31, Moharram was being observed by members of the Shia community in Lal Bazaar in downtown Srinagar, in a maze of lanes and bylanes. There was no presence of security forces in the night as scores of men and women in black assembled in a hall, to listen to the tragic story of the sacrifices of Karbala.

Outside, in the lanes, young men on bikes are patrolling the streets to implement a ‘night blackout’. Everything is anyways shut, and homes are dark. Except for Lal Bazaar, there are no people on the streets or peeping out of their windows. The blackout is strictly implemented. Headlights of the vehicles are smashed if they are switched on.

Locals are seething with anger. “They are not allowing Moharram processions this time. Not even black flags and banners. This is unfair,” said a young man dressed in black. A young politician, who is lucky to not have been detained, said, “Why are they denying us the right to observe Moharram peacefully? Are we not suffering so much already? Our business is down. We can’t communicate. Even Eid was spoilt. Did we indulge in a single act of violence in this area? We have not even protested here. We don’t want to go with Pakistan, nor do we want sovereignty. So, why are they denying us our constitutional rights? We too are patriotic Indians.”