The Valley will be celebrating its fourth consecutive Id in a lockdown after the Jammu and Kashmir administration on Sunday announced the extension of the pandemic-related curfew by a week till May 17.
Id ul Fitr will fall on May 13 or 15 depending on the sighting of the moon.
The Valley had to spend Id ul Zoha in August 2019 during a lockdown that had followed the scrapping of Article 370 that year. Id ul Fitr in May and Id ul Zoha in August last year took place amid the Covid-induced lockdown.
A fresh curfew imposed earlier this month to stem an alarming spike in Covid cases will take the sheen off this year’s festival as well.
Lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha on Sunday ordered the extension of the curfew in all the 20 districts of the Union Territory by a week till May 17.
Essential services, however, will continue as normal.
“Corona Curfew imposed in all 20 districts of J-K till 7am on Monday, 10/5/21 is extended further by 7 days till 7am on Monday, 17/5/21. The curfew will be strict except for a few essential services,” the department of information and public relations said in a tweet.
This implies that Id prayers are unlikely to be held at major mosques this time as well. Religious bodies have not yet reacted to the government order.
In a separate order, the gathering permissible for marriages have been curtailed to 25 from 50 with effect from Sunday.
The government had initially announced a 34-hour lockdown from 8pm on April 24 in a bid to tackle the surge in Covid cases last month. On April 29, the authorities imposed a curfew in 11 districts that was subsequently extended to all the 20 districts the next day.
The Union Territory on Saturday recorded 4,788 fresh Covid cases, taking the tally of infected persons to 2,11,742. The death toll in the region rose to 2,672 with a record 60 fatalities on Saturday.
The Valley has spent the last two years, barring a brief occasional respite, in a full or partial lockdown that seems to have exacted a massive psychological toll besides wreaking havoc on the economy.
The children have not been to schools in the past two years and have got little to celebrate on occasions like Id.
Some politicians have welcomed the decision to extend the curfew, arguing it will help save lives
“It is good that lockdown has been extended. There is little else u can do when the pandemic is ravaging across. Hoping we all stay safe and May Allah protect us all,” tweeted People’s Conference leader Sajad Lone.
But with hardly any help coming from the government for the battered economy, many people expressed concern that it will further destroy lives.
Hazratbal shopkeeper Abdul Hameed said the shopkeepers had invested huge amounts to purchase Id-related stocks. “With our shops shut, who will purchase our products? Instead of making some profit, we are incurring more losses,” he said.
