SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir — Nadeem, a Kashmiri art student, has been closely following the Israel-Hamas war on social media. But the 25-year-old, who declined to use his real name, has been avoiding posting his own thoughts on the conflict.

“Everyone has to remain cautious and it’s impossible to write anything,” he told Nikkei Asia.

Since the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7, and Israeli forces responded with devastating force in the Gaza Strip, the war has proved bitterly divisive far from the battlefield. In much of the Muslim world, as well as many Western cities, huge crowds have taken to the streets to protest Palestinian civilian deaths and Israeli policies more broadly.

But Kashmir, a Muslim-majority territory known for a largely pro-Palestinian stance, remains conspicuously quiet.

Local residents and religious leaders say Indian authorities have actively sought to deter demonstrations and pro-Palestinian sermons in the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan, but claimed entirely by both. A spokesperson for India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) denied that there is any ban on protests, while experts say Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is particularly cautious about movements in Kashmir that could evolve into open hostility against the state itself.

The apparent clampdown in Kashmir is a microcosm of India’s delicate, controversial, balancing act between its own longstanding support for Palestinian statehood and warming ties with Israel.

Since October, police have detained or placed under house arrest several Kashmiri political leaders, activists and clerics to prevent them from organizing pro-Palestinian demonstrations, according to local media and the individuals themselves. Well-known clerics say they have also been placed under home confinement, especially on Fridays, to stop them from leading congregational prayers at mosques.

The gate to Srinagar’s Jamia Masjid mosque is blocked off on Friday, Dec. 1. (Photo by Quratulain Rehbar)

Kashmiri separatist leader and cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Aga Syed Haadi, another cleric, both of whom have large online and offline followings in the territory, are among those who say their freedoms have been curtailed.

Haadi told Nikkei Asia that in October, when thousands of Palestinians had already been killed, he had scheduled a protest in solidarity but it was prohibited by the authorities. “They said they had apprehensions that this could lead to a law and order situation in the valley,” he said.

Israeli officials estimate the Hamas onslaught killed about 1,200 in Israel, mostly civilians, while the Israeli response has killed around 15,000 including many women and children in Gaza, according to Hamas health officials.

There has been no official order against holding prayers in Kashmir, but every Friday, security is deployed in and around the historic Jamia Masjid mosque to prevent protests and large gatherings.

Nikkei Asia tried asking police officials in Kashmir to explain their concerns, but received no response.

Farooq, who advocates dialogue between India and Pakistan on Kashmir and was only released from four years of home confinement in September, says he has also faced new restrictions recently. “It is very unfortunate that religious freedom is repeatedly held hostage in Kashmir,” he said. “Repeated closure of historic Jamia Masjid, and my house detention, are reminders of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and its fragile normalcy.”

On Friday, Farooq’s organization said he was placed under house arrest and prayers were disallowed for the eighth consecutive Friday.

Altaf Thakur, the BJP’s spokesperson for Jammu and Kashmir, insisted, “We have not issued any order where peaceful protests have been banned, as it is everyone’s democratic right to protest peacefully.”

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is surrounded by supporters as he leaves Jamia Masjid after attending Friday prayers in Srinagar on Sept. 22, before the Israel-Hamas war erupted.   © Reuters

Asked why the historic mosque has been restricted, and for his response to leaders who say they have not been given permission to protest, Thakur replied: “It is due to the precautionary measures. Since 2019, [the] BJP government has been very careful in maintaining law and order … and it doesn’t want any anti-national element to disrupt peace in the valley. Because we believe there are still anti-national elements among [the] public who can take advantage if we allow them.”

2019 was the year when India revoked the special status that had afforded the region a degree of autonomy.

Kashmir is not the only place where India has tried to deter protests over the war. Over 200 students from organizations like the All India Students’ Association (AISA) were detained near the Israel Embassy in New Delhi in October, as they sought to protest the bombardment of Gaza.

Support for the Palestinian cause is not a fringe view in India; it has long been part of the country’s foreign policy. India was the first non-Arab state to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization as the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, in 1974. In 1988, it recognized a Palestinian state, and in 1996 it opened a representative office in Gaza — later moved to Ramallah in the Israel-occupied West Bank.

But the Modi government has forged closer relations with Israel. In 2017, Modi became the first Indian prime minister to visit Israel. India is also a key export market for Israeli arms, reportedly up to $2 billion annually.

After Oct. 7, Modi was one of the first to condemn Hamas’ attack, stressing that India “stands in solidarity with Israel at this difficult hour.”

In what many see as a departure from India’s typical voting patterns at the United Nations, it abstained from a General Assembly vote in late October on a resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.

At the same time, India has insisted it still supports a “two-state solution” that includes “a sovereign, independent and viable state of Palestine living within secure and recognized borders, side-by-side in peace with Israel.”

“India is keen to have strong relations with the Middle East,” said Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center. “That includes Israel. Ideologically, Modi admires [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his views. Also, India sees [the conflict] through a perspective of ‘counterterrorism’ operations and a form of self-defense.”

Activists from a Kashmiri women’s separatist group protest in Srinagar against Israeli military strikes in Gaza back in 2008. Many residents of the region have long supported the Palestinian cause.   © Reuters

Kugelman’s explanation jibes with how Thakur, the BJP spokesperson, framed the government’s position.

“PM Modi has sent humanitarian aid to Gaza, but our party is against any form of terrorism, and that’s why PM Modi has supported Israel this time,” Thakur said.

But back in Kashmir, critics of the government see limitations on pro-Palestinian voices as part of a larger effort to suppress dissent.

“The goal is to manufacture a culture of silence in Kashmir,” a local anthropologist said, declining to be named. “India wants its sovereignty in Kashmir to be absolute, which it interprets as an absolute crackdown on any political speech or public presence that diverges from the officially prescribed speech and behavior. It is akin to a totalitarian state.”

Kugelman did not go that far, but did say that “India never wants to give Kashmiris an opportunity to vent against the Indian government, because of the realities of Kashmir and because of the large and repressive presence of Indian security forces in Kashmir.”

The BJP’s Thakur argued that quiet in Kashmir is a good thing. “Kashmir is peaceful at the moment,” he said. “There used to be violent protests, but right now the government wants that peace should be maintained.”