The Kashmir valley returned to its paralysed state on Monday after separatist groups resumed their shutdown call. Schools, colleges and other business establishments remained shut even as security forces were deployed to foil the separatists’ call for protests.
Public transport was plying in a few areas, but vehicles largely kept off the roads. A few shops were open near the Lal Chowk city centre, reported PTI.
This comes after normalcy had returned to the state for two days, after four months of shutdowns. Shops, fuel stations, offices and other business establishments had opened while traffic had returned on the roads of Srinagar with public transport back in operation on Saturday and Sunday after the separatists had called off their shutdown for the weekend. Authorities had also pulled security forces out of the Valley.
Mobile internet for postpaid connections was restored on Friday night. Internet services were stopped after protests broke out in the Valley following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8. Internet on prepaid mobile connections, however, remains suspended. More than 90 people have been killed in unrest in the Valley since Wani’s killing, and hundreds have sustained grievous injuries during protests in the past four months.
The unrest in the state has also contributed to the worsening ties between India and Pakistan, with Islamabad criticising the Centre’s management of the clashes in Kashmir and calling for a plebiscite in the region several times. Relations between both countries soured further after a militant attack on an Army camp in Kashmir’s Uri sector and the Indian Army’s “surgical strikes” on terror camps along the Line of Control with Pakistan.
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