In Valley, a long road of uncertainty

Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, October 1

When the morning market — the only few shopping hours of the day in the past two months — was about to be set-up in Srinagar’s Bemina neighbourhood, a group of youth burnt tyres and asked shopkeepers to shut.

On Monday, the market in one of the largest neighbourhood of Srinagar was deserted throughout the day. In the evening, a fruit vendor was the only one open in the market. “A few people came in the morning. Who knows who they were,” Gulzar, the fruit vendor, said.

In hushed tones, people guessed the three men who came in the morning to shut the morning market were militants or their sympathisers.

A day later on Tuesday, the morning market was back in the business. Every inch of the road in the neighbourhood was filled with vendors and shoppers.

The uncertainty, however, looms in the air as the daytime shutdown of businesses and public transport in Kashmir valley nears the completion of its second month. The shutdown, one of the longest in recent decades, has been largely spontaneous as no separatist group or leader has called for it as has been the tradition.

The markets across Kashmir valley and its public transport services have remained shut since August 5 abrogation of Article 370. The communication services that include mobile phones and Internet have also remained suspended.

While the administration has no answers about when it plans to partially and completely restore communication services, Kashmir inches a step closer to normalcy and then moves a step back.

On Mondays, the rush of private vehicles fills the roads of central Srinagar which is the hub of government and private offices. On Friday, the day of congregational weekly prayers which have morphed into demonstrations in the past, the roads are deserted.

A shopkeeper in Batamaloo, who keeps his shop open with half its shutter down, said it seems to him to be a long shutdown. “I do not think it will be normal soon. If it had to be normal, it should have been by now,” he said.

In parts of south Kashmir, where the protests have been frequent and violent in recent years, an uneasy calm and silence envelopes the region. Though there have been no major protests in the south, fewer vehicles move on the 50-km-stretch of the road that leads to Pulwama and Shopian districts.

Arshid Ahmad, a resident of Shopian town, said the shopping hours in the district were limited to one hour in the evening and private vehicles move only in case of emergencies. “This is the case of the town area. If you move into villages, you will see nothing. It is complete silence there,” he said.