SRINAGAR: The stalemate in Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution continued on Monday with normal life affected in the Valley for the 57th consecutive day as markets were shut and public transport was off the roads, officials said.
Even though security forces have been deployed across Kashmir in large numbers, the officials said no restrictions, barring suspension of mobile services, were in place anywhere in the Valley. The shutdown has intensified as miscreants have taken to vandalising cars and threatening shopkeepers at several places, they said, adding that such incidents have been taken note of.
Main markets and other business establishments across the Valley remained shut and public transport was off the roads, the officials added. However, private cars and a few inter-district cabs and auto-rickshaws were plying in some areas of the city, they said.
The functioning of schools in Kashmir has remained affected since August 5 when the Centre abrogated the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the state into Union territories. The state government is trying its best to bring the schools to function normally but its efforts have not borne fruit as most parents continue to keep their kids at home due to apprehensions about their safety, the officials said.
Mobile services remained suspended in Kashmir, except in Handwara and Kupwara areas in the north, while internet services across all platforms continued to be snapped for the 55th consecutive day, they added. Most of the top-level and second-rung separatists 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 the 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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