Kashmiris raise concerns over relatives' safety in Valley, urge govt to revive phone services

Kolkata: Kashmiris living in the city are spending sleepless nights after scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution as they are unable to talk or meet their relatives, who are at present living in the Valley.

"It has been four days I couldn't talk to my sons, who stays in Kashmir. My mind is not working. I don't know what to do. I urge the government to allow us to talk to our relatives over the phone," Mushtaq Ahmad Mattoo, who has been running a Kashmiri Shawl shop in Kolkata for the past 25 years, told Millennium Post.

While the mobile data internet services, cellular networks, and SMS services were snapped at 11 pm on Sunday, flight operations in Kashmir will remain cancelled from Wednesday.

"On Sunday, I booked my flight ticket to go to Kashmir on August 9. But, today I came to know from my travel agent that it has been cancelled because there will be no flights operating in Kashmir from tomorrow," Mushtaq said.

Another Kahmiri Shawl shop owner, on the promise of anonymity, shared his ordeal and pointed out that he had stopped travelling in train because of rise of mob lynching incidents.

"I am a Muslim and top of that I am also a Kashmiri. I don't travel in trains because I am afraid that people having fanatic mentality might kill me and no one will come to my rescue," he said.

Meanwhile, tour operators have also claimed cancellation of flights to Kashmir will incur loss to their business.

"Kashmir is a popular tourist destination. On an average, we take at least 90 people for Kashmir tour every year. If flight operations are suspended in Kashmir then it will hit 40 % of our profit," said Ziaul Haque Shaikh of Adventure Education Tours (Mumbai) Pvt Ltd, who takes people on tour across India. Following the revocation order, Article 370 of the Constitution that provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir no longer exists.