Barring three police station areas, curfew lifted in Valley

Srinagar, Aug 29 (PTI) Life in Srinagar city todaystarted limping towards normalcy as authorities lifted curfewfrom entire Kashmir Valley except three police station areasafter 51 days of continous curfew following the killing ofHizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. "Curfew has been lifted from Kashmir except from Pulwamatown and the areas in Srinagar falling under the jurisdictionof police stations M R Gunj and Nowhatta," a police officialsaid. He said the curbs were lifted following improvement inthe situation. "However, the security forces will remain deployed instrength in sensitive areas of the Valley to maintain law andorder," the official said. Curfew was clamped in entire Valley on July 9 followingviolence in the aftermath of Wani’s killing in an encounter insouth Kashmir’s Anantnag district a day earlier. The violence has left 68 people, including two cops, deadand several thousand injured. While public transport continued to be off roads, therewas increased movement of private cars and auto-rickshaws onthe roads here this morning, the official said. Minor traffic jams were seen along the Rambagh-JawaharNagar-Rajbagh axis leading to commercial hub of Lal Chowk dueto the increased movement of private vehicles. The attendance in government offices also showed upwardtrend with majority of employees reporting for work. The banks were also open and witnessed massive rush ofcustomers as soon as they opened. However, schools, colleges and other educationalinstitutions and shops remained closed due to the strikecalled by separatists groups who have asked people to lockdownall government offices, except essential services today. "Except for essential services, lock down all governmentoffices and don’t allow movement of any employee towards theseoffices for joining," the separatists said in their weeklyprotest programme. Meanwhile, mobile internet continued to remain suspendedin the entire Valley, where the outgoing facility on prepaidmobiles remained barred. The separatist camp, which is spearheading the agitationin the Valley over the civilian killings during the protestsagainst Wani’s killing, has extended the strike call in theValley till September 1.PTI SSB MIJDV