“The pro-India political establishment, however big or small, favoured participation in elections. Today, New Delhi has united and turned them against itself,” Khalid Shah, associate fellow at the New Delhi-based, non-profit Observer Research Foundation, told Quartz. “It has to be seen how they are replaced with new people.”

Voter turnout in elections had already plunged after the Modi government cracked down aggressively on protesters during the valley’s 2016 unrest. In the latest national elections, in which Modi returned to power, most of the voters did not cast their votes.

The information blackout has made it difficult to know Kashmiris’ reaction, but the heavy deployment of troops indicates that even the Indian government is anticipating protests and increased violence.

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