Indian Security Campaign Affecting Kashmir’s Fruit Industry

Usually at this time of year, the market is full of people, trucks and fresh fruits and vegetables. But this month, just outside of town, unharvested apples are going bad. They hang from fruit trees across India’s Jammu and Kashmir state, one of the largest apple growing areas in the world.

Fruit growers and traders say a weeks old security campaign has cut transport links with buyers in India and overseas, causing the industry to collapse. The operations began when Prime Minister Narendra Modi cancelled the state’s special constitutional status.

Modi described the move as a way to increase economic growth by treating Kashmir like the rest of India. But the unrest that has followed the government’s action has wrecked the economy. This has made people in the Muslim-majority area very angry. Earlier this month, the market in Sopore, a town known for its big houses and relative wealth, was empty.