Calm in curfew-bound Kashmir

There was calm in Kashmir. Hardly anybody was out on the streets because of curfew and the only event of interest was the flag march staged by the army on the outskirts of Srinagar on Thursday.

All eyes were on what Union home secretary GK Pillai was doing in the city.

Pillai, who’s been sent to the state by the prime minister, met officers from the police, paramilitary and army and reviewed the security situation.

According to sources, the word from those meetings was that security forces have to crack down on trouble makers and mischief mongers and give the message that anti-national acts would not be tolerated.

As of now, the only ones troubling the police are separatist leaders. Masarat Alam, general secretary of hardline Hurriyat Conference and Dukhtaran-e-Milat chief Aasiya Andrabi have become the faces of the agitation.

With curfew in place, people are struggling to put food on the table. There’s restriction on the media too. Dailies failed to hit the stands for the second day on Thursday.

The Kashmir Journalists Corps (KJC), a body representing journalists, has condemned the restrictions imposed on media persons.