By Karishma Mehrotra and Shams Irfan

NEW DELHI — Shuttered movie theaters are now open, as are new cafes, market roads and sports facilities. Government schools have been renamed after police officers. A train line connecting the Kashmiri capital Srinagar and Delhi is almost ready to open. The Indian flag is everywhere.

After decades of violent conflict between separatists and Indian authorities that killed thousands, the Indian government now speaks of a “new Kashmir.”

But these snapshots mask a feeling of repression voiced by residents across Kashmir. Since the Indian government revoked the region’s special autonomy in 2019, Kashmiris deemed too vocal or too close to separatists have been fired, jailed or warned to stay silent.

After a six-year delay, Kashmir is holding elections for the local legislature. About half of Kashmir’s eligible residents, according to official poll numbers, have cast their votes over the past few weeks.

In a region previously known for its election boycotts, even former separatists are running for office because, many Kashmiris say, there is no other way to be heard. The results are due Tuesday.

“The establishment interpretation is that they are coming out in such droves because democracy has been restored,” said Siddiq Wahid, a history professor at India’s Shiv Nadar University who is from Kashmir. “Nothing could be further from the truth. The voter turnout is a keen realization of the fact that enough is enough.”

An absent sense of safety
For three decades, stone-throwing Kashmiri protesters regularly clashed with security forces outside Mohammed Saleem Anfal’s business. It got so bad, he said, that he eagerly made regular trips to Delhi and even spent his honeymoon there.

Decades earlier, Srinagar, a picturesque city surrounded by mountains, had been the go-to honeymoon spot for many Indians, but tourists stayed away as violence brewed. Now, Indians are again considering Kashmir for honeymoons. And the absence of clashes has allowed Anfal, 46, to grow his pharmaceutical business, he said.

But even with the new malls and tourists, he added, a “sense of safety is still missing.”

This story was originally published in washingtonpost.com. Read the full story here.