India: Another conflict grips Kashmir but on mutton this time

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir For the past four months, Ghulam Qadir Mir has been spending his mornings searching for mutton, which has virtually disappeared from Kashmiri markets because of a disagreement between butchers and the local government over prices. Mir, an early riser, visits each of the four meat shops in Bemina, a densely populated locality in Srinagar, the capital city of Indian-administered Kashmir. On a lucky day, he finds one of them has slaughtered a sheep or two. Being a regular customer, he does not return home empty-handed. But the lucky days have been far and few between. On several occasions, after finding local butcher shops shut, he rode in his old car well into the neighboring rural district of Budgam, 12 kilometers (7.4 miles) away, hoping to find some village butcher selling freshly slaughtered locally bred sheep. “My family members scold me every time I step outside. It is particularly tough in freezing winters to go out,” said Mir, a retired government ...