New Delhi | Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik has defended the move of cutting down all communication lines in the state and said that at least there is no loss of human life.
He claimed that there is no shortage of essential commodities.
“In all the crises that happened in Kashmir in the past, at least 50 people used to die in the first week itself,” Satya Pal Malik was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
“Our attitude is such that there should be no loss of human lives. If there’s no telephone for 10 days, so be it. But we will roll back these measures very soon,” said Mr Malik, who was in Delhi on Sunday to attend the funeral of former Union Minister Arun Jaitley.
He said the situation os almost on the verge of becoming normal.
“There is no shortage of essential commodities and medicines in Kashmir. In fact, we delivered meat, vegetables, and eggs to people’s houses on Eid… your opinion will change in 10-15 days,” he said.
After the Centre revoked Article 370 from the controversial state of Jammu and Kashmir, all the communication lines were put on lockdown, as a “precautionary measure” to prevent any backlash or unrest against the move.
The government had said these temporary measures would be lifted in phases by the local administration on the basis of the ground situation.
The state administration has said of the 97 telephone exchanges, only 25 are functioning. The five cater to nearly 35,000 land lines the rest had only and remaining 75 exchanges have only 14,000 numbers.
The government has earlier claimed that saving lives and proper maintenance of law and order in the wake of its Kashmir move was its priority.
Most of the restrictions have been lifted from Srinagar, with the schools, shops and offices now operational. However, several of them are still imposed in the Valley.
No casualty or loss of life has been reported.
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