Shoppers and passers-by in Srinagar’s main city center accused police of breaking locks and carrying phones to open their shops on August 5, the day the second anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370. He said that the coercive measure was taken. For the past few days, the police’s warning to keep shops open and not to go on strike was followed.
The shopkeepers said the government in Kashmir was in no mood to allow the “festivals” of the scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status two years ago to be spoiled.
Witnesses told News18 that the police officials asked traders to immediately lift the shutters to forcefully open the market squares at Residency Road, Regal Chowk and Ghantaghar.
“The locks of three shops were broken. The men in the civis used crowbars and rods to break the locks. They were accompanied by the police,” a pedestrian who had put on a mask before speaking to a television channel said angrily.
He did not reveal his name or profession to the journalists who reached the spot to cover the incident but expressed displeasure over the police action.
A shopkeeper said that he was asked to come on the phone within a few minutes to open his shop. “I went to the square and here I am,” he said angrily.
His neighbor shopkeeper showed a broken lock on one side of his shop, partially shocked and shocked. “Tell me where does this happen?” He asked.
The shopkeepers said that police officers had been calling traders union leaders of Lal Chowk area over the past few days, warning them to keep the market open and not to go on bandh or strike on August 5, the day the Center scrapped Article 370 two years ago. was terminated.
But despite the order, major markets in Srinagar chose to remain closed. Markets in Lal Chowk also remained closed in the morning, but gradually opened up when the police team started making rounds. A shopkeeper said, “Not only the officials of the local police stations but also the top officials made rounds to follow their instructions.”
The police action in Lal Chowk was caught on camera and several journalists and passersby posted the videos on social media platforms. In a viral video, a middle-class police officer is instructing shopkeepers to open shops. In another video, he was instructing his subordinates to get the blade.
Some panicked shopkeepers told News18 that they were in no mood to work today, but were forced to call after a phone call. “I was thinking of taking the kids for a drive but I had bad luck. The program had to be halted,” he said, “I was anticipating that there wouldn’t be many buyers today because of tensions over the anniversary of the revocation of the two articles.
A reporter who writes for an international publication and was one of the first to reach the spot, said that initially police had told them to “turn off their cameras and not report the incident”.
He said that he saw that the locks of many shops were being broken by the police and the shopkeepers were being forced to open the shops.
“When I spoke to the police about what was happening, they were told by an officer that they were providing security to the shopping arcade.”
“But I was surprised to see them using blades and rods,” he said.
Senior police officials declined to comment, but an officer said, “They were taking orders from above.”
“We are here to help people and let things go as normal without any fear or danger,” the official said.
No separatist or mainstream party has called for a strike, although political parties in the Valley have called for August 5 to be observed as a “black day in the history of Jammu and Kashmir”.
The Gupkar Alliance, a group of six federalist parties, had called the BJP’s claim of Naya Kashmir a “hoax”. Other parties attacked the government saying that on August 5, 2019, Jammu and Kashmir was pushed back into the dark era and its history, constitution and identity were attacked.
Meanwhile, there was partial traffic movement in Srinagar in the morning which increased till afternoon. A lot of rallies were taken out in the Valley and in the Jammu region.
Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti led a protest march away from shops, calling for an end to the “repressive” measures adopted by the government.
He reiterated that political prisoners should be released immediately and the dialogue process should be strengthened.
Two Congress workers were detained in Kishtwar for protesting against the abrogation of Article 370, while some more rallies were stopped in Jammu.
However, BJP supporters held rallies in several districts of Jammu and Kashmir to mark the birth anniversary. In Srinagar, he danced to the tunes of popular Bollywood songs apart from cutting a mega cake. He sang the national anthem at many places.
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