Is the Pandemic Aggravating the Conflict in Kashmir?

Covid-19 also known as the Coronavirus pandemic has spread across the globe, killing hundreds of thousands of people. The virus poses as an indiscriminate threat to all countries, targeting populations regardless of where they live, their age, race, gender, sexuality, or ethnicity. Numerous countries have implemented lockdown procedures and global attention has been focused on the ways in which Western countries have handled the situation, particularly the UK and the US. However, what about Kashmir? Kashmir has been in a state of lockdown since August 2019 and this is not a result of a pandemic. Rather, the revocation of Article 370 plunged Kashmir into another curfew resulting in limited public movement, a total communications block, the detention of local politicians and other restrictions imposed by the Government of India. The purpose of this paper is to consider the impact the recent pandemic has had on the already fraught situation in Kashmir and consider if it has made matters worse. It is important to note that this pandemic impacts some states more than others and there are clear discrepancies in terms of who suffers the most during the crisis and this is not necessarily reflected in death toll figures. The paper details the recent history of the conflict in Kashmir, before going on to argue that India is using the current pandemic as an opportunity to exploit human rights in Kashmir.