Srinagar: The festive buzz was missing Monday in Kashmir with Eid prayers limited to neighbourhood mosques as authorities imposed strict restrictions and security forces fanned out across towns and villages. The movement of the people was severely affected and congregations in large grounds were prohibited.
Eid al-Adha passed off peacefully, barring a few minor incidents, said Inspector General of Police SP Pani. He added that there was no firing anywhere in the Kashmir Valley.
“The Eid namaz was offered in different mosques and after the prayers the congregations dispersed peacefully. There were a couple of minor localised incidents of law and order which have been handled very professionally. In these incidents, there have been a couple of injuries which have been reported,” SP Pani said at a press conference.
Rohit Kansal, Principal Secretary and the designated official spokesperson of the government, said Eid was celebrated in 90 per cent of the places in Jammu and Kashmir.
However, the mood was subdued with roads deserted across large swathes of the Valley, the silence broken only by police sirens and IAF helicopters hovering overhead.
Kashmiris woke up to armed personnel deployed at every possible corner asking them to remain indoors. The Eidgah ground and places such as the Hazratbal shrine, the TRC ground and the Syed Saheb mosque were quiet and desolate this Eid – which came exactly a week after the Centre announced that the Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370 was being revoked.
In many places, people could be seen requesting security personnel to let them through. One of them was Mohammed Asgar, a resident of Indira Nagar in this city.
“I wanted to wish my brother who stays across the road but was not allowed to do so,” said Asgar, who wanted to meet his ailing brother in Shivpora, a distance of less than a kilometre from Indira Nagar.
Officials said on condition of anonymity that restrictions had to be put in place as people could have turned violent after Eid prayers. Last Friday, more than 10 people were injured with pellets and teargas shells when a congregation following the prayers turned violent in Soura on the outskirts of the city.
The media was also subjected to strict curbs. Some people gathered outside hotels housing media personnel, hoping to be able to call their children and families in other parts of the country. They returned dejected when they learnt phones were not available to media personnel as well.
“I thought I would be able to speak to my son studying in Bangalore as L could see journalists on television regularly and thought they had phone connections,” said Nusrat Begum. She and her husband Riyaz Mohammed went to the Syed Saheb Shrine in uptown Sonawar but could not offer prayers.
In local mosques, people were allowed inside in singles, officials said. Hilal and Bilal of Dalgate area said they were not allowed to go together to their local mosque by security personnel who cited restrictions under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code. “Does that make sense? What harm would it have done if we walked together to the mosque,” they questioned in unison.
PTI
