Jammu and Kashmir: Id in shadow of clampdown

Srinagar: A Srinagar-based TV journalist emotionally greeting his mother ‘Id Mubarak’ on live TV as he could not meet her despite staying in Srinagar, conveyed the helplessness of Kashmiris who have been placed under a curfew and communications blackout.

The dampened Id-uz-Zuha celebrations in the Valley due to the virtual lockdown since August 5, ended up on a frustrating note for locals with strict curfew-like restrictions being imposed from the crack of dawn.

Though it was widely anticipated that restrictions would be relaxed for Id, it turned out to be quite the contrary.

In the morning, people were directed to offer namaz in neighbourhood mosques and prevented from going anywhere else.

Security forces did not allow prayers at the Hazratbal shrine, and Jamia Masjid in Nowhatta. Most areas, particularly in downtown Srinagar, were sealed. “We are on the field monitoring the situation and it is completely peaceful,” J&K DGP Dilbagh Singh told Deccan Chronicle.

“We thought communication will be opened on Id but that has not happened. We were not even able to greet our friends and relatives,” said Parvez Iqbal, who lives in Srinagar.

The entire political leadership, including former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, continued to be under house arrest though some reports suggested that they had been allowed to offer prayers.

“There are credible inputs of violence on Monday,” a CRPF official based in Srinagar said without specifying whether they are anticipating stone-pelting incidents or a terror strike.