Life remains crippled on 49th day in IOK: With their study at stake, hundreds of students shifted out of Valley

HELD SRINAGAR: In occupied Kashmir, there is no respite for the people of Kashmir as life continues to remain crippled on the 49th consecutive day on Sunday due to military clampdown and communications blackout.

With no mobile connectivity and internet service available, hundreds of students have shifted out of Kashmir to prepare for different examinations. While several private coaching institutions have shifted Kashmiri students to Himachal Pradesh after consultation with their parents.

Although, the authorities earlier claimed that schools have been reopened in Kashmir, students are not going tothe schools. Similarly, colleges and other higher education institutions have not resumed regular classes as telephone services in most parts of Kashmir and all internet services continue to remain suspended. While private schools of Kashmir have provided assignments and video tutorials to the students for home study. Government schools have no such arrangements in place for students.

No Friday prayers were held in the historic Jamia Masjid of held Srinagar as India continued to place Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and thousands of other Hurriyat leaders, activists and youth under house arrest or in jails since 5th of August. All efforts by New Delhi and IOK authorities to bring back normalcy have hit a roadblock. Even after Governor Satya Pal Malik introduced the so-called market intervention scheme for apple growers, there has not been improvement in sales.

Healthcare has been the biggest casualty in the Kashmir Valley and hundreds of patients have been suffering due to curfew and communications blackout imposed by India. Ambulances cannot be contacted as no telephone service is available and a number of patients who need chemotherapy and other medical interventions face a lot of difficulties to reach hospitals due to lack of public transport. In some cases, patients are forced to walk along with their attendants to reach hospitals.

Authorities are lifting and re-imposing restrictions in sensitive areas of Kashmir. Transporters have claimed that their vehicles were taken by police on 4-5 August and since then the vehicles have been with them. A senior officer in the district administration of Srinagar confirmed that most Road Transport Corporation vehicles have been taken by the police and paramilitary forces.

Meanwhile, the Kashmir Press Club representatives met Inspector General of Police (Kashmir Range) SP Pani and informed him about the difficulties being faced by journalists in discharging their duties. Meanwhile, in occupied Kashmir a teenage boy lost his life after he was subjected to inhuman torture by Indian troops at an army camp in Pulwama district.

According to a report of the Kashmir Media Service, Yawar Ahmed Butt, a resident of Chandgam Pulwama, who was detained and tortured by the troops, was shifted to Srinagar’s SMHS hospital in critical condition where he succumbed to his injuries.