Curfew lifted from most parts of Kashmir Valley

SRINAGAR - Curfew and restrictions were Sunday lifted from most parts of the Kashmir Valley except for some areas here even as separatists have called for a shutdown.

“Except for areas falling under five police stations in Old City and central Badgam town, curfew and restrictions have been removed from the rest of the valley,” a police officer said here.

Although shops, educational institutions, businesses and banks remained closed here owing to a public holiday, private transport and some public transport plied in uptown Srinagar.

“The tensions are definitely less today (Sunday) as I went out in the morning to buy a few things for breaking our fast in the evening,” said Riyaz Ahmad, a 37-year-old school teacher living in uptown Srinagar.

Muslims keep a dawn to dusk fast during the month of Ramadan and engage in prayer and penance by thronging places of worship.

“Allah alone can bring in permanent peace in Kashmir. Everybody has suffered immensely and it is time all of us invoke divine blessings to help us in this hour of crisis,” said Muhammad Maqbool, 45, a businessman here.

The hardline Hurriyat group headed by Syed Ali Geelani had called for a protest march here Saturday but it was scuttled by the authorities as curfew was imposed in the city and restrictions were in place elsewhere.

Geelani’s group has called for a protest shutdown Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

The valley entered its 80th day of unrest Sunday which began here June 11. So far, 64 people have lost their lives in the ongoing protests and violence.

Asiya Andrabi, the chief of the women’s separatist group Dukhataran-e-Milat (Daughters of Faith) was Saturday arrested from a house in the Zakura area of Srinagar.

Known as a hardline separatist leader, her group is an important constituent of the Hurriyat headed by Geelani.