Kashmir inches towards normalcy, phone lines made operational

The lockdown in Kashmir has begun to be lifted in phases with phone lines and public transport being made partially operational in the region, a day after the Centre decided to restore normalcy in the region.

At the same time, Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) was lifted for the day in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir, with the Centre keeping a hawk’s eye on any untoward civilian violence and backlash in the region after 10 days of a complete shutdown in the wake of the reading down of Article 370 and 35A last week.

Jammu and Kashmir Principal Secretary (Planning Commission) Rohit Kansal said, “There has been no untoward incident reported so far. Public transport has started plying and we are getting encouraging reports of normal movement from a lot of rural areas."

The Centre on Friday announced that landline services would be resumed in the region by Sunday, while schools are expected to reopen on Monday. Earlier, the Jammu and Kashmir administration had allowed government offices to start work from Friday, adding that 12 out of the 22 districts in the region were “functioning normally."

Kansas added on Saturday, “We are looking forward to the opening of schools beginning with primary schools all over. As we mentioned yesterday, there will be full functionality of government offices from Monday."