Fresh restrictions imposed in Kashmir, Friday prayers pass off peacefully

Fresh restrictions were imposed on the city and other parts of the Kashmir Valley as a preventive measure in view of Friday congregational prayers which passed off peacefully, officials said. Restrictions under Section 144 of the CrPc were announced on the public address system.

People have been asked not to venture outside and barricades have been placed. While Friday congregational prayers were offered in mosques located in the interiors of the city and elsewhere in the valley, no prayers were allowed in major mosques and shrines of the valley for the third consecutive week.

The prayers have passed off peacefully with no major untoward incident reported so far from any part of the valley, a police official said. Normal life remained disrupted across the Kashmir Valley for the 26th consecutive day, with markets closed and public transport off the roads.

While landline telephony services have resumed in many parts of the valley, mobile telephone services and all Internet services continue to remain suspended since 5 August after the Centre's move to abrogate Article 370, that provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcate the state into two union territories.

Most of the top-level and second-rung separatist politicians have been taken into preventive custody while mainstream leaders including three former chief ministers -- Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti -- have either been detained or placed under house arrest.

-PTI

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