NEW DEWLHI, Aug 28(Agencies): India's Supreme Court has agreed to hear petitions against the federal government's decision to revoke special status for Indian-administered Kashmir, report agencies.
The region has been under lockdown since August 05 when it was stripped of its partial autonomy.
The court said a five-judge constitution bench would hear all 14 petitions in the first week of October.
It also asked the government to respond to those challenging the communications blackout and media restrictions.
There has been little news from the region as mobile networks and the internet have been shut down, although a partial restoration of connectivity recently has enabled some landlines to start working again.
The court observed that if a person wanted to travel to the region then they should not be prevented from doing so and allowed one of the petitioners to travel to Anantnag to meet his parents.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led government has justified its stance, saying the restrictions were needed to maintain law and order and prevent violence from breaking out on a mass scale.
Meanwhile, report from Srinagar adds: at least 500 incidents of protest have broken out in Indian Kashmir since New Delhi stripped the region of its autonomy and imposed a military clampdown more than three weeks ago, a senior government source told AFP Wednesday.
The Himalayan valley is under a strict lockdown, imposed hours before India's decision to bring Kashmir under its direct rule. Movement is restricted and phone and internet services have been cut.
The lockdown, as well as the deployment of tens of thousands of extra troops to reinforce the 500,000 based in Kashmir, was ordered amid fears of unrest in a region where an armed rebellion against Indian rule has been waged since 1989.
But protests have broken out, including in the main city of Srinagar, with police using pellet guns and tear gas to disperse the crowds.
A senior government source told AFP at least 500 protests and incidents of stone throwing have occurred since August 5, with more than half taking place in Srinagar.
Nearly 100 civilians have been injured so far, with a further 300 police and more than 100 paramilitary troopers hurt, the official added.
"The number of protests could be much higher and bigger without the blockade in force," the official told AFP, adding that "anger and public defiance is constantly rising".
"Efforts for easing the conditions are made all the time but nothing seems to be working for now. There is nervousness spreading in the security establishment."
He added that the communications blackout meant even security forces were struggling to obtain information about rural areas.
Meanwhile, residents are refusing to resume their normal lives in an act of defiance, an AFP reporter in Srinagar said.
While authorities have re-opened schools, students have stayed away. Told to keep open all day or "don't open at all", some shops have remained shut.
