Police break locks of shops in Srinagar
Shops were shut to mark abrogation of Article 370
The Jammu and Kashmir police on Thursday indulged in lock picking to break open several shops in Srinagar’s Lal ChowkBudshah Chowk business hub to thwart a shutdown that was being observed on the second anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the erstwhile state.
The witnesses said that gun-wielding policemen used iron rods, hacksaw blades and other tools for prising apart the locks of these shops.
Simultaneously, the shop owners were reportedly contacted on the phone to ask them to reach the area and run their establishments as usual.
The traders accused the police of arm-twisting, a charge denied by the latter. It said that no one will be allowed to disturb peace or create a law and order situation in J&K.
The photojournalists who tried to capture the bizarre moments in their camera were allegedly threatened by the police officials and some of them were even chased away from the scene. Yet a few videos of the police action were placed on some social media sites including Facebook and Twitter and soon went viral, evoking criticism of the police “highhandedness” and “vandalism”. Some critics said that it was tantamount to ‘burglary’.
The shopkeepers on condition of anonymity said that the police had on Wednesday visited the area to warn them not to observe a shutdown on August 5. They said a senior police officer had told them that the government does not want marketplaces to remain shut on the anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 and that she expected them to cooperate with the authorities.
Several other parts of Srinagar also witnessed a shutdown by traders and only a skeleton transport service plied on the roads.
Amid rising tensions, a bomb - possibly an improvised explosive device - went off at the north-southern entrance to the historic Jama Masjid which is being reopened for congregational prayers on Friday.