Srinagar/ Jammu: Markets were abuzz and people queued up outside ATMs as life returned to normalcy on a rare day in Srinagar yesterday. The development coincides with separatists asking people to resume routine activities and the authorities deciding not to impose a curfew.
"No curfew or restrictions are in force anywhere in Srinagar city and other major towns of the Kashmir Valley," a police officer said. However, restrictions have been imposed in south Kashmir's Pampore town and in Palhalan and Delina in the north, he added.
Hardline separatist Hurriyat group headed by Syed Ali Geelani issued a fresh 10-day protest asking people to observe shutdowns, marches, protests and sit-ins except tomorrow, and on October 20 and 24.
On these three days, people have been asked to resume protest-free lives. The separatist shutdowns and calls for marches at various places in the valley have prompted authorities to impose curfew many times during the last four months to prevent violence.
Clashes between the protesters and security forces have claimed the lives of 110 people in the valley thus far. So any normalcy is more than welcome to Srinagar's residents.
"Normalcy is but an occasional episode in Kashmir's general drama of pain and suffering," rued Naseer Ahmad, a resident here. Yesterday, shops, banks and businesses were open in Srinagar city while government offices remained closed on account of a public holiday.
People were busy shopping in markets buying essentials while long queues formed outside ATMs.
Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir government has sought prosecution of army personnel in 41 cases since 1990 under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, an army spokesman said yesterday.
