Public Transport Back In Kashmir As Fatigue, Winter 'force Residents To Move On'

Public transport is back on the Valley’s roads over 100 days after Jammu & Kashmir was stripped of its special status and divided into two union territories. While the government is looking at the waning civil curfew as a positive development, within Kashmir, people are talking about “fatigue” among residents who realize they have to move on.

Article 370 and Article 35A, which gave J&K a degree of autonomy and some privileges, were emotive issues for Kashmiris, who saw them as a condition for the Valley’s accession to India. When they were scrapped this August, the central government imposed a large-scale shutdown in the state to avoid law-and-order situations, restricting civilian movement, cutting landline and mobile connectivity, suspending the internet, and detaining political leaders (internet remains suspended in the Valley and political leaders are yet to be released).