Normalcy returns to Kashmir Valley after restrictions withdrawn

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Srinagar: Life returned to normal in Kashmir on Sunday after two days of restrictions and shutdown in the wake of the killing of Zakir Musa, the so-called head of an Al-Qaeda affiliate in the Valley in an encounter with security forces in Pulwama district, officials said.

They said there were no restrictions in place in any part of the valley on Sunday. "Normalcy has returned to the valley as there is no strike today and no restrictions have been imposed anywhere," an official said.

Officials said shops, fuel stations and other business establishments re-opened this morning while public transport also operated normally.

The weekly flea market on the TRC Chowk-Batamaloo axis through the Lal Chowk city centre was also open, they said.

Musa, the so-called head of Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, was killed in an encounter with security forces at Dadsara village of Tral in the south Kashmir's Pulwama district Friday after forces launched a search operation on late Thursday evening following specific information about the presence of militants there.

Fearing law and order problems, authorities imposed a curfew in parts of Kashmir Valley as a precautionary measure on Friday. The curfew continued on Saturday in view of a strike called by the hardline Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani against the killing of Musa and a civilian, Zahoor Ahmad, a resident of Naira Pulwama by unidentified gunmen on Thursday.

Mobile internet was also suspended on Thursday night across the valley, but the low-speed service was restored in most parts on Saturday evening following improvement in the situation. The high-speed mobile internet service continued to remain barred.