Terrorists, protestors back in action as J&K eases curbs

Among those detained are Farooq Abdullah's sister Suraiya Abdullah, his daughter Safia Abdullah Khan and Hawa Bashir, wife of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Justice Bashir Ahmed Khan. They were aggrieved of the loss of special status more than the clamp down on stone pelters.

"On August 5, we were locked inside our homes and Article 370 was abrogated. This is a marriage by compulsion which won't work," Suraiya Abdullah told reporters.

Meanwhile, police said, one of the two terrorists involved in the incident is a Pakistani national, adding that an operation was launched to track them. "One terrorist involved in the attack is a Pakistani. An operation has been launched in the area to track down the terrorists," repors citing Jammu and Kashmir police chief Dilbagh Singh said.

Police, however, took several of the protestors into custody at Pratap Park near Srinagar's Lal Chowk as they started protesting. They were taken to a nearby police station.

Meanwhile, 72 days after mobile and internet communications were blocked in the Kashmir Valley by the government, the authorities on Monday restored mobile phone services in the state. But as situation started worsening, the government ordered stoppage of SMS services, which is mostly used by terrorists and their sympathisers.

The centre also lifted restrictions imposed on politicians, after hundreds of them - including former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, his son Omar Abdullah, as well as Mehbooba Mufti - have been placed under detention or house arrest since August as the government announced its move to end special status granted to the state under the Article 370 of the constitution and split it into two union territories.

Farooq Abdullah, 83, who had been detained at his home in Srinagar was placed under house arrest and charged under the Public Safety Act (PSA), a stringent law that enables detention without trial for three to six months.

The government, which restored mobile phone services for post-paid subscribers in Kashmir after 72 days on Monday noon, however, withheld internet facilities. It also stopped SMS services as officials in the security establishment maintained the process might take up to two months. 

Phones fell silent on 5 August, when the centre revoked Jammu and Kashmir's special status and reorganised the state into two union territories.

In Jammu, communication was restored within days of the blockade and mobile internet was started around mid-August. However, after its misuse, internet facility on cell phones was snapped on 15 August.

Security forces on Monday also arrested two terrorists belonging the pro-Pakistan outfit Hizbul Mujahideen in Jammu and Kashmir's Ganderbal district on Monday, a police spokesman said.

Acting on a credible information, police along with security forces arrested two terrorist identified as Chandi Khatana and Wajid Ali Khatana, both residents of Jandiwada Rajouri, he said. 

According to police records, both of them were part of the proscribed terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen and were acting as couriers for active terrorists, spokesman said.

They were also responsible for supplying terrorists with logistics, transporting arms & ammunition and guiding active terrorists for carrying out terror attacks in the area thereby strengthening the terror networks and adding to the terrorist infrastructure in the area, he added.

"Incriminating material and arms and ammunition were recovered from their possession. All these incriminating material have been seized by police to probe their complicity in terror crimes," the spokesman said.