Life remains crippled in Kashmir, restrictions lifted in downtown

Srinagar, Jul 15 : Even though the undeclared curfew has been lifted in the downtown and Shehar-e-Khas (SeK), life remained crippled in entire summer capital Srinagar and all other major towns and tehsil headquarters in the Kashmir valley.

Today the breakaway Hurriyat Conference (HC) had appealed to people to hold demonstrations in their respective areas, but life remained paralysed due to spontaneous strike.

The number of private vehicles and motorcycles, besides three wheelers was very less as compared to other bandh days.

After about two weeks, barring few days in between, the restrictions in the downtown and SeK were lifted late last night.

People were allowed to move out of their homes. '' We moved out of our homes which had been turned into jail because of restrictions as even women and children were not being allowed to move out,'' residents of Nallahmar said.

However, they said, there was still shortage of essentials, including vegetables and bread. Today milkmen from outskirts came to deliver milk, they informed.

Shops and business establishments in the downtown, SeK and other parts of Srinagar, remained closed and traffic was also off the roads.

The State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) buses also remained off the roads.

The educational institutions wore a deserted look as students and teaching staff stayed away as the management of all private schools had announced that the institutions will remained closed because of security reasons.

Work in the government offices, banks and other public undertakings was affected due to the shutdown. The offices of all Insurance companies also remained closed, affecting badly the customers.

A report from Baramulla said that life remained crippled due to strike with all shops and business establishments closed and traffic off the roads in this and other north Kashmir district, major towns and tehsil headquarters.

The educational institutions also remained closed, the report said.

Shops and business establishments remained closed in Anantnag, a report said. The streets wore a deserted look with only few private and security forces vehicles plying on the roads. Adequate security force personnel had been deployed on both sides of the roads to thwart any untoward incident.

Similar reports were also received from other parts of the Kashmir valley.