A new dawn after 12 days of lockdown

New Delhi: In first steps towards normalcy in Jammu and KashmirJammu and Kashmir after 12 days of lockdown and communication blackout, Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam said on Friday that the process of restoring landline phone services would begin from tonight.

He said the services would be restored in "large parts of Srinagar" on Saturday morning.

Subrahmanyam said government offices were functioning normally in the Valley, while schools will reopen next week. He added that there has been no loss of life or major injury since restrictions were imposed on August 5. The chief secretary also said 12 districts in Jammu and Kashmir were functioning normally while there was limited restrictions only in five districts.

However, the chief secretary did not take any questions on the detention of political leaders and decided to conclude the press conference on being asked about political detentions.

Most senior political leaders, including former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, have been kept in detention ever since Jammu and Kashmir was stripped of its special status and statehood.

'Caged like animals'

Peoples Democratic Party leader Mehbooba Mufti's daughter Iltija Mufti wrote to Union home minister Amit Shah questioning him about the government's decision to revoke Article 370, and the law under which she had been detained in her home.

The former chief minister's daughter has been under house arrest since August 5 at the family's Gupkar Road residence in Srinagar. Mehbooba Mufti was also put in detention along with several other political leaders, including former chief minister Omar Abdullah, the same day.

Iltija Mufti said she had no option but to write to Shah as there was no clarity why she had been detained. She said Kashmiris were "reeling under despair" since last week.

"Today while the rest of the country celebrates India's Independence Day, Kashmiris have been caged like animals and deprived of basic human rights," she wrote.

Iltija mentioned in the letter that visitors were not allowed to meet her and called it "odd" since she was not affiliated to any political party.

Ads featuring Indian artists banned

Pakistan's electronic media watchdog has banned the airing of advertisements featuring Indian artists as part of the country's protest against India revoking the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) circulated a letter announcing the ban. Pemra said that it already withdrew the permission for airing Indian channels and content on the directions of the Pakistan Supreme Court in October last year.

"However, it has been observed that advertisements of various products of multinationals which are either produced in India or carrying Indian characters/talent [are] being aired on electronic media," according to the Pemra letter.

India suspends Thar Link Exp

India on Friday suspended weekly Thar Link Express which connects Jodhpur in Rajasthan to Karachi in Pakistan, a railway official said.

The train's scheduled journey on Friday will not take place, North Western Railway's Chief Public Relations Officer Abhay Sharma said.

He said the train services on both up and down lines have been suspended till further orders.

On August 9, Pakistan's Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed had announced in Islamabad that the day's train would be the last one to Jodhpur.

Pak summons Indian envoy

Pakistan's ministry of foreign affairs summoned the Indian deputy high commissioner to Pakistan, Gaurav Ahluwalia, on Friday, for the third time in a week over alleged ceasefire violations.

Ahluwalia has been meeting Mohammad Faisal, Pakistan's director general for South Asia and SAARC, in the wake of the alleged incidents taking place along the Line of Control, in which four Pakistani soldiers were killed.

The ceasefire violations from the Pakistani side began on the day when India commemorated its 73rd Independence Day.

The Indian Army retaliated befittingly to the unproved firing by the Pakistani troops.

New Delhi has repeatedly urged Pakistan to "respect" the 2003 ceasefire arrangement between the two countries.

The developments also came in the absence of Indian high commissioner to Pakistan, Ajay Bisaria, who returned to New Delhi earlier this week after Islamabad urged India to call back the envoy amid heightened tension between the two neighbours following the abrogation of Article 370 that accorded special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

SC flays faulty plea on Art 370

The Supreme Court on Friday expressed anguish over "defective" petitions challenging the scrapping of provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said the petition by advocate M L Sharma challenging the scrapping of Article 370 has "no meaning".

"What kind of petition is this? It could have been dismissed but there are 5 other pleas with the registry," the bench, also comprising S A Bobde and S A Nazeer, said.

The CJI said he spent 30 minutes reading the petition on Article 370 but could not make out anything. The apex court asked lawyers to cure defects in their six petitions on Article 370 and adjourned the hearing.

Meanwhile, a powerful bomb ripped through a mosque during Friday prayers in Pakistan's troubled Balochistan province, killing at least five persons and injuring 24 others, police said.

With food stocks dipping, Kashmiris want curbs eased

Life has come to a standstill for Abdul Rahim and his family, living in Kulgam district of south Kashmir. It is over ten days since the lockdown began and the family is feeling the pressure of dipping cash and food reserves.

Kulgam has been a hotbed of militancy for the last several years, and many militants have been killed there. Security, therefore, is tight and restrictions are in place.

"People are suffering, stocks are drying up, we are worried what is in store for us in the future," said Abdul Rahim who owns a fruit orchard.

His 17-year-old nephew, Mohammad Sufiyan, says, "Compared to the 2016 unrest following the killing of Burhan Wani, the situation is peaceful in Kulgam presently". However Sufiyan, a second year college student, laments missing his studies: " I have not gone to college since the lockdown after Article 370 was scrapped.

All schools and colleges are closed, it is a big loss." Sufiyan''s 13 year old sister, Sameena, also a student, says "things are pretty bad. We can''t venture out of our homes. It has been 12 days of blockade now".

The family had stocked up on food and other essentials before Article 370 was scrapped, but now the stocks are drying up. Sameena''s mother, a housewife says, "Our LPG cylinder is about to get exhausted. We are really fed up of these restrictions."

Outside Abdul Rahim''s house, the streets are mostly deserted. There is tight security in the whole of Kulgam. People do gather outside shuttered shops and discuss the situation.

Mohammed Saleem runs a restaurant in Kulgam. He says: "Business has taken a major hit. Shops are closed. The bank ATMs are closed, we can''t buy or sell anything. It is high time for the government to lift the communication blockade."

Government spokesperson Rohit Kansal said the issue of cashless ATMs shall be looked into and directions would be issued to ensure that ATMs have cash so that people do not suffer.

Kansal added: "The government is cognizant and sensitive to the problems being faced by the people, but in order to avoid a violent fallout such measures were needed.

But it is a dynamic situation, and as and when the situation improves, the restrictions will also be ended."