Indian doctor arrested in Srinagar for speaking against IoK lockdown in interview

Indian forces have arrested an Indian doctor in Srinagar for speaking up against the curfew which has left Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK) without any internet or landline services since nearly four weeks.

In an interview to BBC Urdu at Lal Chowk Srinagar before his arrest, Doctor Umer said that he was not protesting but requesting the Indian government to restore the internet services. He said that soon this will become a humanitarian crisis as it was affecting the health care system.

The doctor said that due to the suspension of landline and internet services, the doctors were not able to provide free services to the patients under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana program. He further said that since the system is purely based online, the patients were now spending their own money to get their cancer treatment and medicines.

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He added that if the services are not restored, then a dialysis patient who needs treatment three times a week is given one session, and thus the patient will die for sure. Following his interview, the doctor was arrested by Indian security forces.

Since stripping off IoK's special status, India has imposed a curfew which has entered its fourth week. Indian forces have also made more than 4,000 arrests in the region, many of whom were transferred to India as the capacity of IoK prisons have filled.