More than five months after they were detained without charge, dozens of separatist leaders from Indian-administered Kashmir remain imprisoned as the government in New Delhi seeks to marginalise them, according to sources and figures from a rights group.
Authorities in New Delhi see the removal of activists from communities in the Kashmir Valley as a key aspect of the struggle against the armed militant groups and stone-pelting youths who have been fighting Indian rule, according to interviews with 10 people familiar with the situation.
The round-up of non-violent separatists, who support Indian-administered Kashmir either joining Pakistan or becoming an independent state, is part of an unprecedented crackdown from India's government to neuter a movement it believes fuels the armed insurrection, the sources said.
That includes restrictions on the movement of the few separatist political leaders who are out of jail, pressure on foreign diplomats not to meet them, and the recent banning of a number of unarmed separatist organizations.
The sources who spoke to Reuters include separatist leaders, diplomats, security officials, senior members of India's ruling party and others familiar with the government's thinking in several ministries in New Delhi.
"Action will be taken on whoever is connected or fuelling (militant groups) in whatever way," one source familiar with the Indian government's thinking said.