Kashmir: Curbs On Movement Of People Eased, Landline Services Restored In 17 Exchanges

Twelve days after the Kashmir Valley was placed under a total clampdown, the administration here on Saturday announced the easing of restriction on movement of people and restoration of landline services in some areas.

Addressing a press conference, Rohit Kansal, Principal Secretary in the Jammu and Kashmir administration, said no major incident has taken place in the Valley so far.

SRINAGAR: Twelve days after the Kashmir Valley was placed under a total clampdown, the administration here on Saturday announced easing of restriction on movement of people and restoration of landline services in some areas. Restrictions were imposed on August 5, hours before the Narendra Modi government announced its move to abrogate Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir. As a precautionary measure, the government also put several political leaders in the Valley, including former Chief Ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah, under house arrest. Addressing a press conference, Rohit Kansal, Principal Secretary in the Jammu and Kashmir administration, said no major incident has taken place in the Valley so far. "No untoward incident has been reported so far. Public transport has started plying and we are getting encouraging reports of normal movement from a lot of rural areas," he said. The administration is looking forward to the opening of schools, beginning with Primary schools across the Valley from Monday and government offices will also be fully functional from then, Kansal added. He said 17 telephone exchanges, out of the total 96, have been made functional and hoped hoped that by Sunday landline services would be restored in almost all the areas of the Valley, barring a few vulnerable pockets. "Seventeen telephone exchanges have already been made functional and the services of most of the exchanges would be restored by tomorrow evening," Kansal said. Landline services were restored in some areas of Srinagar like Civil Lines, Cantonment, airport, Raj Bagh and Jawahar Nagar but in most parts, including Lal Chowk and Press Enclave, they remain suspended. In central Kashmir, landline services were restored in Budgam, Sonamarg and Manigam areas. Services have also been made operational in Gurez, Tangmarg, Uri, Keran, Karnah and Tangdhar areas of north Kashmir and in Qazigund and Pahalgam areas of south Kashmir. Also, the 2G mobile internet services have been restored in five districts of Jammu region: Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Udhampur and Reasi. Explaining the present scenario in the Valley, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir Swayam Prakash Pani said the administration is calibrating the situation and easing is being done in a gradual manner. He said restrictions have been relaxed in 35 police station areas of the Valley -- 15 in north Kashmir, 10 in central Kashmir and 15 in south Kashmir. On Friday, the government had announced that the restrictions imposed in Jammu and Kashmir will be lifted in a phased and gradual manner.