Restrictions eased in troubled valley but unrest continues
Officials yesterday began to reconnect telecoms in Indianadministered Kashmir by reopening 17 of the 100 landline exchanges in the valley.
The move came after 13 days of total communication power cut and strict restrictions on civilian movement in the area.
Since August 5, when the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government revoked the special status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, phone lines in the region went dead, the internet was shut off and movement was restricted in the new union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
Fearing a violent response, New Delhi also sent 10,000 extra troops to the area.
In a joint press conference by government spokesperson Rohit Kansal, Inspector General of Police Swayam Prakash Pani and Director Information and Public Relation Syed Sehrish Asgar said the restrictions had been relaxed in 35 police districts across parts of the Kashmir Valley.
Mr Kansal also said the decision was taken after “closely monitoring the situation on the ground”.
However, in the old town of the region’s capital of Srinagar, the restrictions preventing any civilian movement were still in effect.
In the city centre, Lal Chowk, the shutters of most shops remained down.
“We didn’t open the main door fearing the situation. We have been operating via the back door to facilitate people in an emergency,” local shop owner Showkat Mir, 26, said.
At the end of a lane in the centre, Mohammad Yaqoob, 45, who owns a small shop, lamented the situation.
“I didn’t open for business. I opened the shop for the people so that they could buy [their] daily needs,” he said, handing a packet of cigarettes to a young man.
“Kashmir is in a warlike situation. Here, the matter isn’t about where restrictions were lifted or communication channels opened, this time it is about our identity.
“People aren’t opening their shops out of protest. It is civil disobedience.”
On Friday, the District Development Commissioner, Shahid Choudhary, wrote on Twitter that restrictions would be lifted in most parts of Srinagar. He also urged people to avoid “panic shopping”.
The state’s Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam said on
Friday there would be a “gradual restoration” of phone lines at the weekend.
But he said the easing of restrictions would be carried out with “the constant threat posed by terrorist organisations in using mobile connectivity to organise terrorist actions” in mind.
Shadhab Khan, 45, owns a jewellery shop and sat alone, one of many business owners who refused to trade. “We didn’t open the shop because of restrictions. Now, it is our protest,” he said.
He said that with all the political leaders detained or under house arrest, “Kashmiris are in a boat, sailed by wind and mood of the people”.
On Friday in Srinagar, several hundred protesters clashed with police, who responded by using tear gas. No injuries were reported.
The clashes broke out as more than 3,000 people rallied in the Srinagar locality of Soura, where regular protests against the central government have been carried out since New Delhi’s revoked the region’s special status.
A week earlier, about 8,000 people staged a demonstration, with police also responding with tear gas.
“They have kept us under this lockdown like sheep while making decisions about us,” said resident Tariq Madri.
In Jammu, the sister region of Kashmir valley, the situation was improving quicker, with all landlines and mobile services restored.