Monitor News Bureau
Srinagar, Sep 27: Restrictions were re-imposed in parts of Srinagar and other districts of Kashmir amid a total shutdown on Friday, the 54th day of the ongoing situation in the valley after the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir on August 5.
No Friday prayers were allowed in different mosques including historic Jamia Masjid in Srinagar for the 8th consecutive Friday.
Sources said that restrictions were imposed across Kashmir Valley in wake of the tension ahead of Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Imran Khan’s addresses to the UN General Assembly in New York.
Security was beefed up across Srinagar, with concertina wires and barricades back in sensitive areas, including old Srinagar city.
Barbed wires were also put up at different intersections of city while city centre Lal Chowk was made out of bounds for commuters.
All the shops and business establishments remained shut across Kashmir even as government forces were deployed and put on high alert.
The mood in the Valley continues to be tense as the communication clampdown, imposed in the first week of August after the scrapping of Article 370, is set to complete two months next week. Public transport is a trickle, and private vehicles have mostly been plying during office hours. Shops remain closed for the better part of the day.
Despite the administration issuing orders to open schools, attendance is negligible. Thin attendance was also reported in Government offices.
Amid the restrictions on mobile phones, parents are reluctant to send their children to school, with administrations at educational institutes devising novel ways to ensure studies are not affected.
Besides communication clampdown, there is no rail service that has also been in suspension mode since August 5.
A complete shutdown was also observed in other parts of Kashmir including Pulwama, Kulgam, Shopian, Anantnag, Baramulla, Bandipora, Kupwara, Ganderbal and Budgam.
Quoting sources news agency KNT said that amid shutdown and uncertainty, security forces launched Cordon and Search Operations at 31 places in last 24 hours while at least 20 persons were arrested from different parts of Valley.
Sources said that unidentified persons torched a load-carrier in Handwara.
Official sources informed Kashmir News Trust that a load carrier bearing registration number JK09A-3038 was stopped by some unknown youth when it was on way to the main town. They sprinkled petrol on it and set it on fire.
Police have taken cognizance of the incident and registered a case.
A number of incidents of such nature have occurred in Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 in the first week of August last month. (With inputs from KNT)
