SRINAGAR: Union home minister, Amit Shah’s, assertion in Rajya Sabha that there is normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir is only partly true. Though marketplaces in central and northern parts of Kashmir including uptown Srinagar have in past one week remained open for longer hours and also public transport services started plying on select routes, the stalemate over the abrogation of Article 370. Earlier, most parts of the Valley witnessed partial to complete shutdowns for about 100 days. As said by Shah there is no curfew in Kashmir at present, but Section 144 CrPc is frequently enforced in parts of central Srinagar, particularly on Fridays. No Friday prayers or congregation could be held at city’s Grand Mosque since August 5 due to these restrictions.
The home minister’s claim that not a single person has died in police firing in J&K after August 5 is also factually flawed. At least, two persons died in or during police actions in Srinagar itself during this period. A youth, Asrar Ahmed, died on September 4, days after he was critically injured in the police’s pellet firing on protesters in Srinagar’s Soura area.
Another local youth, Osaib Altaf, died after he jumped into Jhelum to escape security forces’ chase in Palapora area. Also, 15-year-old, Yawar Ahmed, committed suicide after he was allegedly beaten up and humiliated by the Army troops during a random search operation in Tahab area of southern Pulwama district on September 17.
Scores of people were injured in security forces actions against protesters and stone-pelting mobs in various parts of the Valley including Srinagar. However, Shah was right when he said that compared to 2018 there have been less number of stone-pelting incidents in the Valley, so far, this year.
He was not wrong either in claiming that vast majority of students has appeared in board examinations and that hospitals are also functioning.
But what he did not say is that most schools, colleges and other educational institutions in the Valley remain shut or no class work does take place at these. As far Shah’s claim on the procurement and transportation of apples, the fact remains that National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited has not been able to procure even one percent of the apple produce of the Valley.
