Srinagar, February 23
Markets opened and transport services resumed their operations across the region as Kashmir limped back to its normal schedule today after remaining shut for the past three days.

Traffic was plying normally on the roads and car parking spaces, which had remained deserted since Wednesday when the three-day shutdowns began, were jammed with cars as residents went to their businesses on the weekend.

All business houses, including banks and other commercial centres also opened after a gap of three days. Universities, some of which had postponed their exams in wake of the shutdowns and curfews, also opened in the region.

Reports from north and south Kashmir districts said the residents resumed their normal schedule after days of closure.

Kashmir has remained shut for 12 days since February 9 when 2001 Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru was hanged in New Delhi’s Tihar jail sending Kashmir into a spiral of separatist called hartals and government imposed curfews.

The region has remained shut for last three consecutive days amidst separatist shutdown and government-imposed curbs on the last day as demands for return of Guru’s body grew louder.

Hardline Hurriyat Conference, led by Syed Ali Geelani, which is spearheading the protest calls to demand the return of Guru’s body, yesterday announced a break of three days in the shutdowns till Monday of next week when the new calendar will be issued. Geelani has warned to continue protests till Guru's body is returned to his family.

The region is expected to remain open for the next three days.

Shutdowns and curfews, which followed Guru’s hanging, have hugely impacted the local business houses as vendors, shopkeepers and buses remained grounded for most of the time in the past two weeks.

Series of shutdowns and curfews have also made the region’s tourism industry nervous as it cautiously watches the tense situation emerging ahead of the tourism season, which in the past two years has witnessed record arrivals.

Anantnag, February 23
A newborn baby boy was abandoned by his parents at Maternity and Children’s Hospital, Anantnag, hours after he was born with a peculiar skin disease, said the hospital authorities.

The doctors at the hospital said the baby was born to a woman from Damhal Hanjipora area in Kulgam district.

According to the hospital authorities, the parents of the baby saw him once and went absconding after that.

The doctors said the parents were probably horrified by the medical condition of the baby. “He has only two openings for a nose, no ears and the eyes are deformed,” said Dr Shakir, the doctor who conducted the delivery.

“He has a skin disease, which in common language, leads to a baby being referred to as a Collodion one,” said Dr Shakir. He said in this medical condition, affected babies are born in a Collodion membrane, a shiny waxy outer layer to the skin. This is shed 10-14 days after birth, revealing the main symptom of the disease, extensive scaling of the skin. The hospital authorities, after waiting some time for the parents to return, have told the police station in the Damhal Hanjipora area about it.

“I have talked to the SHO concerned and he has intimidated other family members of the baby about it,” said medical superintendent of the hospital, Dr Majeed Mirab. “However, nobody from the family has reached the hospital so far,” he added.

This dark trend of abandoning babies is not unheard of in Kashmir valley. Over the last couple of years, a number of such incidents have been reported from different hospitals in Srinagar city. In GB Pant Hospital, Srinagar, five babies were abandoned in the entire year, but this year, in January alone, four babies have been abandoned by their parents. Sociologists maintain the rising immorality inculcated through TV and movies is a driving factor.

Kupwara, February 23
Many remote areas in Kupwara are groping in the dark even a day after snowfall led to snapping of power supply in these villages.

Residents of Chowkibal, Rajwar, Harai, Darpora and Devar complained that on the pretext of snowfall, employees of power department were staying away from their duties and not rectifying the faults.

“We are groping in the dark since last evening. At a few places, electricity poles uprooted due to snowfall yesterday are still lying on the ground. Employees of power department are not attending to their duties on the pretext of snowfall,” said Mukhtar Ahmad of Devar in Lolab.

Locals demanded restoration of electricity at the earliest. “It is a matter of a few hours to erect the poles and restore power supply, but the employees are not ready to move out of their homes, citing lame excuses such as snowfall. If the supply is not restored by this evening, we will not pay the power tariff for the days concerned as we did not receive electricity,” said Shamas din Ahmad of Chowkibal, 27 km from Kupwara.

Residents of some other villages including Drugmulla, Bumhama and Nutnoosa complained that the voltage was so low that they had to light candles to illuminate their houses.

“Since last evening, voltage is very low and serves no purpose. We apprised a senior officer of power division Kupwara about the same but to no avail,” said Abrar Ahmad of Bumhama.

Srinagar, February 23
Heavy snowfall the Valley received since Friday night has been acting as a deterrent to movement of traffic and people on Saturday morning.

An overnight spell of snowfall in the Valley has clogged all major roads and lanes of Srinagar city, leading to heavy traffic jams during the morning rush hours and even in the afternoon, causing lots of trouble to the people, especially the office-goers.

At many marketplaces in Budshah Chowk, Lal Chowk, Exchange Road, Jehangir Chowk, Batamaloo and Karan Nagar, traffic movement was stalled for hours together due to accumulation of snow on roads.

In the early morning hours, people faced lots of problems while walking on snow-clogged roads, especially in the lanes and bylanes of residential localities where snow clearance operations were yet to begin.

Although Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) pressed into service various snow clearance machines early in the morning, especially on vital road links, water-logging (due to melting of snow) caused traffic jams.

People complained that on some important and busy city roads like the three-way Rambagh Road link, the traffic cops were not present on important check-posts to regulate traffic.

Due to the power supply waning on Friday evening, the traffic lights proved to be a disappointment again and stopped working at many points.

“It was sheer confusion on Rambagh Cross Road, where most of the uptown traffic is diverted. We were stuck for two hours there and I saw a couple of traffic policemen at this juncture. After a long spell of curfews and strikes, we finally stepped out of our homes, only to reach workplaces late. Blame it on the weather or the poor administration,” said Huzaif, a marketing executive with a private retail outlet.

To clear the roads of waterlogging, SMC later put 72 pump stations and 28 dewatering mobile pumps in action.

“At least 2,000 men along with the machinery including two JCBs, two skilled loaders and 16 loaders were put to use, which cleared almost 90 per cent of snow, both from uptown and downtown areas,” said an SMC official.

Anantnag, February 23
While the roads in many towns of south Kashmir remain waterlogged following a snowfall, with power supply snapped and roads blocked, far-flung villages of the region have plunged into darkness.

Reports said all the major roads in Anantnag town are overflowing with water in absence of a proper drainage system.

“The flood channels in the town have been encroached upon right under the nose of the authorities,” said Mubashir, a local. “That’s the reason the drains choke at the slightest downpour,” he said.

Residents of Biojbehara town in Anantnag district also allege that the roads in their town have been waterlogged for the last two days.

“This has affected our business. A vehicle passing by leaves our shops all drenched,” said Muhammad Shafi, a shopkeeper in Bijbehara town.

Meanwhile, the far-flung villages in all four districts of south Kashmir region have been cut off from the main towns; besides, electricity is yet to be restored to these areas.

“The administration has been exposed once more; however, like other times, we don’t really expect anyone to do anything,” said Abdul Majeed, a resident of Damhal area in Kulgam district.

Residents of Damhal area say the roads, their only links to the outside world, have been blocked and no snow clearance machines have been put to work.

“We are forced to live in darkness every time it snows in Kashmir; this time too, it has been two days since electricity got functional,” said Ijaz Ahmad, a resident of Vailoo area in Kokernag.

Residents in these villages say the local health centres are running out of medicines and the blocked roads are a big obstacle when it comes to ferrying patients to hospitals in major towns.

Srinagar, February 23
Rail service to Baramulla in north Kashmir would resume from tomorrow.

“We had resumed the partial train service from Qazigund in south to Budgam in central Kashmir on February 18 after remaining suspended for nine days. Now in all possibilities we will operate the trains up to Baramulla tomorrow,” said AK Sharma, Chief Area Manager, Northern Railways, Budgam.

The train service in Kashmir between Qazigund to Baramulla was suspended due to the security concerns in wake of hanging of Afzal Guru on February 9.

Sources in the railway said more security men would be deployed in the train upto Baramulla on Sunday as it passes through many sensitive areas.

"In past one week we had been regularly holding security review meeting for plying the train upto Baramulla, but there was no security clearance. Now that Kashmir is limping back to normalcy, the railways has been given a green signal to ply the train between Qazigund and Baramulla- a distance of 119 kilometers,” said a railway official.

The official said the train services had to be suspended as the state government feared damages to railway property. “In 2010, the Kashmir train services had to be halted for almost five months due to security reasons and damage to the rail property in various parts of the Valley. A decision was taken this time to put the service on halt,” he added.

Srinagar, February 23
A house was damaged in a fire incident in Qamarwari locality of Srinagar last night.

Police said the fire, sparked by a short-circuit, broke out in the house of Ghulam Qadir Labroo, son of Mohammad Sultan, resident of Shah Colony, Fruit Mandi, Srinagar. The fire damaged the house completely. Fire tenders later doused the flames.

“No loss of life or injury was reported in this incident,” police said.

Srinagar, February 23
Dr Mehraj-Ud-Din Mir, Dean, School of Legal Studies, Central University of Kashmir (CUK), has been awarded by the India Society of Criminology, Chennai, for his contribution to the field study of Criminology and Criminal Law with the "Kumarappa Reckless Award".

Kumarappa Reckless Award is the highest and prestigious award granted by the Indian Society of Criminology, Chennai, to the academicians, professionals, scholars and administrators in the administration of Justice for their outstanding contribution in the field of Criminology and Criminal Law.

The award was presented to Mehraj-ud-Din at a function organised by the India Society of Criminology, Chennai, and National Law University, Delhi, on February 15.

Nearly 300 delegates from across the country comprising Vice-Chancellors of the National Law Universities, High Court Judges, senior professors and senior police officers and scholars attended the function.

After receiving the award, Mir delivered a detailed lecture on “Crimes Against Women.”

Mir has served in the University of Kashmir for more than 35 years. He has worked in the University in different capacities and has a vast experience in teaching and research. His main focus has been on “Criminal Justice System” and has completed a number of major research projects sponsored by the ICSSR and the University Grants Commission, New Delhi.

Mir has been associated with the study of Criminology right from the very beginning and has played a pivotal role in the rehabilitation of the ex-convicts. He has also contributed in the drafting of the jail manual of the state.

He is a recipient of national and international awards, including the fellowship of Max Plank Institute of International Criminal Law (Germany).

Jammu, February 23
Minister for R&B Abdul Majid Wani today said the Union Government has approved revision of its core network to include as many as 1,100 left out unconnected habitations with population of 250 persons and above in Jammu and Kashmir under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY).

“This is highly significant for our state,” Wani said adding that he had recently taken up the matter with Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh and Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad and conveyed the urgency and immediate need for revision and extending the scheme to cover left out habitations especially in hilly areas of the state.

“We appreciate the support the Union Government is providing to the coalition government-led by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in its endeavour to improve the living standard of the people,” he said, maintaining that with this approval our vision for providing all weather road connectivity to both rural and remote inaccessible hilly areas will receive a significant boost. It will also support our resolve for rapid improvement in road connectivity percentage especially in those districts which have lower road connectivity, he said.

“We are also approaching and keeping constant touch with the Union Ministry of Rural Development for its approval for covering unconnected habitations with population of 100 persons and above in Jammu and Kashmir and we are hopeful of receiving the nod in this regard as well,” Wani informed.

Meanwhile, the minister said the state government had also conveyed approval to the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for conducting further geo-technical investigations along the Batote-Doda road and prefeasibility study for construction of proposed Chenani-Sudhmahadev-Goha-Khellani alternate road to Doda district.

Srinagar, February 23
Moderate faction of separatist Hurriyat Conference today condemned the detention of its leaders, including chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, terming it a worst form of dictatorship.

The faction in a statement said the group’s leaders, including Mirwaiz, Maulana Abbas Ansari, Syed Hassan Mosavi have been placed under detention at their residences while Mukhtar Ahmad Waza and Hakeem Abdul Rashid have been kept in police station. Moderate separatist faction further said that the Government of India should read the writing on wall and should return Afzal Guru’s body to his family.