Actor Aamir Bashir's mother, aunts in jail after protest in J-K

Actor-director Aamir Bashir says he is proud of his elderly mother and his aunts for "standing up to the might" of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, which took a group of women into custody during a protest in Srinagar.

Bashir said his mother Hawa Bashir Khan and his aunts, who are in their 70s and 80s, are in jail after Tuesday's protest against the abrogation of provisions of Article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories.

Among the half-a-dozen women activists taken into custody are the sister and daughter of former chief minister Farooq Abdullah.

"After the initial shock, some perspective... while my mother and aunts (all in their 70s and 80s) are in jail for a peaceful protest. There are hundreds if not thousands of children some as young as nine, who are picked up in midnight raids and taken to unknown locations...

"They're thrashed, tortured and their families run from pillar to post to find their whereabouts," the actor tweeted on Wednesday.

Bashir, who was most recently seen in "Sacred Games" and directed "Harud", a film on Kashmir, took comfort in the fact that his mother is in jail with her sisters.

"They took a stand and chose to speak out against this oppression. While they're old and need medicines for arthritis, asthma and cardiac ailments, they're still better off than those mothers who have not seen their young ones since this lockdown began. This is the new normal in #Kashmir," he added.

On Tuesday, Bashir shared a video of his mother speaking to an international media outlet during the protest.

"'Ask us why we are unhappy!' says my mother. 'Is this democracy?' asks my aunt. Proud of these women standing up to the might of a police state...," the actor had tweeted.