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Video Editor: Ashutosh Bhardwaj and Abhishek Sharma
Ahead of the abrogation of Article 370 on 5 August, all means of communication were severed in Jammu and Kashmir. In very little time, the erstwhile state was practically cut off from the outside world. Four days later, the government started helpline numbers for the residents of the Valley to be able to get in touch with their kin living outside Jammu and Kashmir.
In the eighth ground report from Srinagar, we show you how the desperate residents of the region wait in long queues for several hours just to speak to their loved ones for a paltry four seconds.
The Quint’s Shadab Moizee reached the office of Srinagar’s Deputy Commissioner, where one phone is available for the hundreds of people trying to establish contact with their relatives who live outside Kashmir.
Mudassir is not alone. There are hundreds like him who want to speak to their loved ones and inquire into their well-being and assure them of theirs, too.
Residents of the Valley have been waiting quite desperately to hear the voices of their loved ones. Helpless and left with little choice, they are forced to wait in long queues for several hours to be able to speak to their relatives outside for just a few seconds.
Before the long wait outside the DC’s office, residents from remote areas like Chhatabal have to go through the ordeal of cross-questioning and showing their ID cards at every check-point in order to reach the DC’s office.
(This video was recorded on 9 August 2019)
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