NEW DELHI — India slightly eased its communication blockade in Kashmir on Monday, but conditions remained far from normal two weeks after the government stripped the restive region of its autonomy and statehood.
Residents of Srinagar, the Kashmiri capital, confirmed that the authorities had reconnected some landlines, although many were still unreachable. Mobile connections and internet access remained severed, and hundreds of local politicians were being held incommunicado. Most schools remained closed.
Kashmiris have faced an unprecedented clampdown since Aug. 5, when India announced it would revoke the region’s autonomy, undoing seven decades of policy toward the country’s only Muslim-majority state.
On Monday, President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a 30-minute phone call in which they discussed “regional and bilateral matters” with “warmth and cordiality,” according to a statement from India’s foreign ministry.
The statement said that Modi had spoken to Trump about the “extreme rhetoric” of certain leaders in the region — a reference to Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.
