In Kashmir Shutdown, Families Struggle to Contact Relatives

A security personnel stands guard during restrictions in Srinagar, on Wednesday, 7 August. Restrictions have been imposed in several districts of Jammu and Kashmir as a precautionary measure.

(Photo: The Quint)

After the Parliament effectively revoked Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, and bifurcated it into two Union Territories (UTs): Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, internet and telephone services were suspended.

Kashmiri families haven’t been able to step out of their homes because of the curfew, and the communication clampdown has left them unable to contact their children and relatives who live in other parts of the country.

The Quint went to Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir and talked to a few families, all of whom narrated their ordeal.

Hamida told us that her son lives in Delhi and it has been a couple of days since she last spoke to him. 

“My son, Khalid, lives in Delhi, it has been four days since I've talked to him. I'm very worried. There are no services here,” she said.

With no available means of communication, families are getting restless as they haven’t been able to reach their children.

Bashir, Khalid’s father, told us that the authorities issued an advisory on Monday, 5 August, that a curfew had been imposed and nobody was to leave their houses.

He said, “He is in Delhi, working at a company in Noida. We haven’t talked to him since and we are very worried, we are facing some problems... I met an officer, I was able to contact him after he let me make a call.”

Riyaz, a businessman, told The Quint, “I don’t know where my son is right now. He lives in Lajpat Nagar in Delhi but we don’t know what condition he is in, how he is. One child is out of India, we don’t know how he is either. He must be yearning there, asking, ‘Where is my father?’