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| Valley limps back to normalcy | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
SRINAGAR, Oct 7: Normal life resumed in Kashmir today after authorities lifted the two-day-old curfew from all 10 districts of the Valley as the situation remained peaceful during the restriction period, official sources said.
Curfew was imposed in Kashmir Valley from Saturday midnight "to prevent any loss of life or property" in the wake of separatist leaders' call for a march to Lal Chowk on Monday in support of their demand for right to self determination.
The decision to lift the curfew from 5 am today was taken by the state government after reviewing the situation in the valley yesterday after huge deployment of security forces and sealing of entry and exit points in the city foiled the march, they said.
The authorities decided to withdraw the curfew keeping in mind the difficulties faced by the people, sources said.
As soon as the police vans fitted with public address systems announced lifting of curfew, residents across the city came out of their homes to buy groceries and other essential items.
They said schools, colleges, offices, shops and business establishments also opened after remaining closed for two days on account of curfew.
Barring a couple of incidents of violation, the curfew period passed off peacefully. There were stray incidents of protests in Baramulla town and stonepelting in some parts of downtown city yesterday.
The Coordination Committee, an amalgam of separatist groups including both factions of Hurriyat Conference and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), last night asked people to resume normal activities from today.
A fresh meeting of the separatist leaders would be held tomorrow to firm up the next course of action, sources said.
The Coordination Committee leaders asked students to appear in examinations, farmers to attend their crops and business community to resume their normal activities.
The people-friendly measures came after villagers in three areas - Pahalgam, Kokernag and Sri Gufwara - shouted slogans against the coordination committee for disrupting normal life regularly.
The call for normalisation was also made after business community expressed displeasure as a 15-member delegation of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir Chamber of Commerce is expected to visit the Valley later this week to finalise the cross-LoC trade between two parts of Kashmir. |
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