J&K admn refutes Pak PM claims about curbs

SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir government on Wednesday said Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s reference to the situation in the state at the United Nations General Assembly last week was a “story of falsehoods”, asserting that life in the valley had returned to near normal since the abrogation of Article 370 in August this year.

“Pakistani PM Imran Khan’s address at the UNGA is a story of falsehoods. By peddling half truths and deliberate lies, Pakistan was attempting to divert attention from its own terror record, including its brazen support to militants in Jammu and Kashmir,” a senior official of the state government said in a statement here.

The official said Khan’s only “limited restrictions on movement had been imposed by the local administration in some parts to prevent miscreants from fomenting trouble but these too were relaxed in less than a week’s time”. He said the quantum and frequency of these relaxations has been progressively increasing to a point that now almost the entire state is free of restrictions.

“Jammu and Kashmir is free for any movement and accessible to all including citizens, outsiders, journalists and all others for free movement. It is a myth being propagated that there is a virtual clampdown in J&K. Nothing could be farther from the truth. This is proven by the visible on the roads with traffic jams, the passenger air traffic, the normal functioning of hospitals, the availability of essential civil supplies, and the free access of journalists,” he said. PTI