How August 15 is changing colours in centrally-run Kashmir

On August 8, Jammu and Kashmir government issued a weekly order detailing Covid-19 containment measures in the union territory. Like previous orders that have been issued periodically since the second wave of the pandemic in the summer, it talked about the need to follow social distancing norms, intensify vaccination drives, keep schools closed and restrict gatherings to 25 people – barring one significant exception, Independence Day.

There will be no ceiling on gatherings on August 15 in Jammu and Kashmir, and schools have been asked to organise celebrations that day.

For decades, national commemorations have elicited a stony silence and indifference from the vast majority of Kashmiris. Since an armed uprising erupted against Indian rule in 1989, militant groups and separatists have routinely called for shutdowns on Independence Day on August 15 and Republic Day on January 26. As a result, these events have been relegated to high-security zones inaccessible to ordinary civilians.

But this pattern seems to be changing.

Ever since the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir lost its special status and was downgraded to a Union territory days before Independence Day in 2019, the significance attached to national commemorations has been markedly more pronounced.

Last year in August, the government directed all officers above the…

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