The hartal was back in Kashmir a day after Amit Shah had claimed the restoration of normalcy to the Valley, the development seen widely as a backlash to the Union home minister’s controversial remarks.
Large parts of Kashmir, including Srinagar city, observed a spontaneous shutdown on Thursday in stark contrast to the pronounced normality of the past few days.
Most shops remained closed and many public transport vehicles were off the roads in Srinagar and several other parts of the Valley, although private vehicles could be seen plying.
No call for a shutdown had been issued but police sources said posters had appeared in some parts warning traders against opening their shops.
The received wisdom in the city was that the shutdown was a reaction to Shah’s Parliament speech on Wednesday, although officials accused “miscreants” of intimidating the people.
A businessman who has a shop at Polo View said: “There are reports of posters surfacing in some areas but the trigger (for the shutdown) was apparently the speech (by Shah),” he said.
The Valley was completely shut for days during the recent visit by European MPs, with people viewing the trip as an attempt by the Centre to project the people as happy with its decision to scrap the then state’s special status.
Shah had said “total normalcy” prevailed in the Valley and that courts, banks, offices, health centres and media outlets were operating fully.
Kashmir had been largely shut for the first 100 days since the constitutional changes but clear signs of normality had returned over the past few days, with many shops staying open till 5pm. “Total normalcy”, however, remains a far cry with students largely staying away from their classes although most of them are taking their exams.
Many shops stayed shut on Thursday even in the morning. Shopkeepers had been opening their outlets for a few hours in the morning during the past several weeks, except during dawn-to-dusk strikes.
Srinagar deputy commissioner Shahid Iqbal Choudhary warned “miscreants” against threatening residents over “going about their routine life affairs”.
“The warning was issued in the backdrop of reports of threatening posters appearing at certain places with messages of retribution for opening shops or going about other routine affairs,” an official spokesman said.