REUTERS/Danish IsmailRestrictions on public movement were partially relaxed for Friday prayers in the Valley. However, Jama Masjid in downtown Srinagar, which generally sees protests and stone-pelting whenever the situation in Kashmir is tense, remained out of bounds for devotees.
Sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs said that people were allowed to go to mosques in their neighbourhood to offer prayers but care was taken to not allow assembly of a large number of people at any given time. This was done in anticipation of possible stone-pelting, sources said.
K Vijay Kumar, advisor to the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, had on Thursday told The Indian Express in an exclusive interview that restrictions would be relaxed for Friday prayers.
“People were allowed to go to mosques within one kilometre radius of their area,” an official said. Some incidents of stone-pelting were reported from Sopore, Baramullah and Srinagar.
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Communication lines remained down in most of Kashmir with both mobile phones and landlines not working. Low speed Internet was restored in some non-sensitive pockets in Srinagar, sources said. “The bandwidth has been decreased to ensure that incendiary videos are not uploaded and circulated,” an official said.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, who has been in Kashmir since the lockdown, visited the state capital on Friday and spent about two hours with the CRPF personnel in downtown Srinagar.
Doval also met Governor Satya Pal Malik and the two are learnt to have discussed the security situation in the Valley, scale of relaxation needed for Eid celebrations and anticipation of unrest.
“The two also reviewed supplies and availability of essentials in the Valley for the celebrations,” the official said.
The administration also allowed some shops in each neighbourhood to open so that people could purchase groceries and other essentials.
Meanwhile, consultations have begun in the Home Ministry on bifurcation of the J&K cadre of IPS officers. Officers have been asked to express their choice between the two Union Territories of Ladakh and J&K. Further consultations will be held to suitably divide the cadre between the two Union Territories.
