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People living in the Indian-occupied region of Kashmir marked “Black Day” on Friday with an all-out strike in protest against 70 years of military rule by India.
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Shops, schools, markets and public transport facilities all shuttered their doors across the region, as they have been doing every year since India took control of Kashmir on Oct. 27, 1947.
"You go to any home and they tell you a story how their brother, son, and husband was killed and how they continue to face the atrocities of the army," grocer Javed Ahmad, who closed his store for the day, told Al Jazeera. "We continue to live the repercussions of the day that gave birth to this conflict."
The protests were called by the Joint Resistance Leadership, comprised of separatist leaders Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik, in conjunction with other pro-freedom organizations.
Seventy years ago, when armed tribesmen from Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (now called Khyber-Pakhthunkhwa) invaded the disputed territory, Kashmir's then-ruler, Maharaja Hari Singhwhen, requested the assistance of India’s armed forces in return for acceding to the country.
The accession was to be ratified through a referendum, but the vote never took place. Since then, the region has been locked in a struggle spanning seven decades.
Both rebels and ordinary Kashmiris continue to battle the roughly 500,000 Indian soldiers deployed in rhe region, with some demanding independence while others seek to merge the territory with Pakistan. Nearly 70,000 people – most of them civilians – have so far been killed by members of the Indian security forces in the 70-year conflict.
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In anticipation of Thursday’s protests, authorities imposed a curfew in major areas of the region. Locals were prevented from attending Friday prayers at Srinagar's grand mosque.
Protests in Kashmir have increased in frequency during the past year in response to ongoing Indian violence. Throwing stones at members of the Indian armed forces has become a de facto weapon in the unrest.
The rebels’ ranks have also grown since July 2016, prompted by the killing of popular rebel leader Burhan Wani, the commander of Hizbul Mujahedeen, in an Indian security crackdown that killed more than 100 civilians.
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