Normal life remains affected in Kashmir

Normal life remained affected in the Kashmir Valley for the 81st consecutive day on Thursday with main markets shut and public transport off the roads, officials said.

Main markets and other business establishments were shut across the Valley, even as some shops opened for a few hours early in the morning in a few areas, including in the commercial hub of Lal Chowk in the city here, but downed their shutters around 11 am, they said.

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Private transport was plying and the number of vehicles was increasing with each passing day, the officials said.

Auto-rickshaws and a few inter-district cabs were also seen plying in a few areas of the Valley, they added. However, the other modes of public transport were off the roads. Schools and colleges were open but students stayed away as parents continued to keep their wards at home due to apprehensions about their safety, the officials said.

Internet services across all platforms continued to be snapped in the Valley since the night of August 4, hours before the Centre announced its decision to abrogate Article 370 provisions that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir and split the state into two union territories, they said.

The internet services were snapped along with mobile and landline telephone services. While the landline telephone services were restored gradually first, the postpaid mobile services were restored only last week.

The prepaid services continued to remain barred. Most of the top level and second rung separatist politicians have been taken into preventive custody while mainstream leaders, including two former chief ministers -- Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, have been either detained or placed under house arrest.

Another former chief minister and sitting Lok Sabha MP from Srinagar Farooq Abdullah has been arrested under the controversial Public Safety act, a law enacted by his father and National Conference founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah in 1978 when he was the chief minister.

-PTI

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