Normalcy restored in Kashmir Valley

Life returned to normal in Kashmir Valley on Saturday after two days of strikes called by separatists against the legal challenge to Article 35-A of the Constitution.

Business establishments, shops, schools and colleges opened in the Valley after two days of the strike, a police official said.

Separatist forum -- Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) -- had called for a two-day strike against the legal challenge in the Supreme Court on the validity of Article 35-A, which bars people from outside Jammu and Kashmir from acquiring any immovable property in the state.

To maintain law and order, authorities had imposed restrictions in seven police station areas of Srinagar.

Various organisations, including Bar Association, transporters and traders' bodies, extended support to the shutdown call given by the JRL, comprising Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court adjourned the hearing in the case till January next year.