The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Friday seized several two-wheelers in Srinagar and shut down the internet in some areas, a day ahead of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s three-day visit to the Valley, PTI reported. The police has been confiscating vehicles since Tuesday.

Many residents alleged that their two-wheelers were seized by police officials, who did not check their documents, PTI reported. The residents were asked to collect their vehicles from the police after October 26.

Journalist Bhat Burhan also said that his bike was seized and its keys were taken away by the police on Thursday in Srinagar. “They ordered me to go home and said some senior police officer has ordered us to get exactly 70 bikes till evening,” he said in a tweet.

Advertisement

The journalist also claimed that the police took away his phone when he told them his profession. Burhan said that when he tried to reason with them, one of the police officers told the journalist that Kashmir was under “gunda raj”.

Meanwhile, some delivery services in the Union Territory were disrupted after the police confiscated vehicles.

Sami Ullah, the co-founder of Fast Beetle delivery service in Kashmir, said that the company’s operation had come to a halt due to “incessant seizing of bikes” by the police in Srinagar. “Just when the businesses in Kashmir were trying to recover from the losses caused during article 370 and global pandemic, our law and order is crumbling us again and again,” he said in a tweet.

Advertisement

He added that 500 delivery executives in Kashmir will be affected if all their bikes were taken away.

Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir Police said that the bikes were seized and the internet was shut down because of terrorism-related incidents in the Union territory. “It has got nothing to do with the home minister’s [Amit Shah] visit,” the police said in a tweet.

Over the last two weeks, 12 civilians have been killed in Kashmir. The Resistance Front has claimed responsibility for most of the civilian deaths.