Authorities removed curbs from across Kashmir on Friday as situation continued to show signs of improvement. However, some restrictions were in force in downtown Srinagar as a precautionary measure.
According to reports and witnesses, the security build-up that had become a constant feature of life in Kashmir on Fridays following the abrogation of the Article 370 were removed on Friday as situation continues to show signs of improvement.
“Some restrictions were imposed in areas falling in downtown areas of Srinagar where we had apprehensions of protests following Friday prayers,” a senior police officer said, adding that there was no report of any untoward incident across the Valley.
However, markets across Kashmir continued to remain shut while public transport was also missing from the roads amid prevailing tensions in the Valley following the abrogation of J&K’s special status and division of the state into two union territories.
Jammu and Kashmir is currently under President's rule. The state Assembly was dissolved on November 2018 after the ruling coalition between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the People's Democratic Party (PDP) fell apart in June 2018.
The Valley has remained under lockdown for a month since the abrogation of the Article 370 by the BJP-led Centre and a sweeping crackdown on not just militants but even mainstream parties like National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party with former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti under detention.
An array of political leaders, businessmen, lawyers, activists and others have also been confined to Centaur Hotel on the banks of Dal Lake which has been declared as a sub-jail by the state administration.
No announcement has yet been made on the charges under which the mainstream leaders and others have been arrested, and whether and when they will be released.
Relatives of Omar and Mehbooba recently were allowed to meet the leaders at Hari Niwas Palace and a guest house at Cheshma Shahi where the two leaders are being held respectively.
Earlier, the daughter of Mehbooba, Iltija Mufti, had written to the home minister that she was fearing for her life and that she was being denied permission to meet her mother who she said has been confined to ‘one room’.
