Source: Aljazeera
Residents of Indian-administered Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar formed long queues outside cash machines and food stores as Indian authorities briefly eased a crippling curfew now into its seventh day to let the Muslim-majority region prepare for the Eid al-Adha festival.
The indefinite 24-hour curfew – imposed as part of an unprecedented lockdown following the revocation of the special status of the disputed Himalayan region – was relaxed on Saturday.
However, communications lines, including landline phones and internet, remained down, with residents saying they were not able to reach their loved ones during the Eid al-Adha and Hajj pilgrimage.
The curfew was also relaxed on Friday for weekly prayers in parts of Srinagar. Hundreds of residents protested following the prayers, during which some were hurt when police fired tear gas and pellet guns.
Baseer Khan, a top administrative official, said on Saturday that essential commodities including food, grains and meat will be delivered to different parts of the region by Sunday.
Meanwhile, huge numbers of troops remained on the streets, a day after security forces used tear gas to break up a demonstration of thousands of people against the government’s move to revoke Kashmir’s autonomy.
The Eid al-Adha festival on Monday, which marks the end of the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, looms as the next big test for the week-old Indian lockdown in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, where the government has ended decades-old rights to property and jobs for local Kashmiris.
Al Jazeera’s Priyanka Gupta, reporting from India’s capital, New Delhi, said: “Restrictions have been eased in at least three areas of Srinagar and large parts of the Jammu region to allow people to do their shopping for Eid celebrations.”
But, internet and phone lines remain cut off, she added.
“People are running out of fuel, because the gas stations are closed, and the pharmacies are running out of stock of critical medical supplies like insulin, but for the time being, people say they do have enough supplies of food and other essentials,” Gupta said.
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