MHA says communication links to be restored in a 'phased manner' in Jammu and Kashmir amid state clampdown

Sources from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Tuesday said that communication links in Jammu and Kashmir will be restored in a “phased manner”, CNN-News18 reported. The report also said that the relaxation of curfew will be done district by district in the state, which has been in a communication clampdown for around a week.

#NewsAlert | Center has nothing to say, the decision will be taken by local administration based on local law and order assessment: Top govt sources on @RahulGandhi's proposed Kashmir visit | @Arunima24 with more details pic.twitter.com/i4uRgAWdMd

— News18 (@CNNnews18) August 13, 2019

The report added that the MHA didn’t comment on Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s proposed visit to the state and said that the decision will be taken by the local administration. He was responding to Governor Satya Pal Malik’s invite to the Valley to observe the ground situation. Malik on Monday had hit out at Gandhi for his remarks that there have been reports of violence in Kashmir, saying he will send him an aircraft to visit the Valley and observe the ground situation. Kashmir News LIVE Updates Malik was replying to a question about statements and reports by some leaders and the media about the violence in Kashmir. On 10 August, Gandhi said that some reports had come in from Jammu and Kashmir about the violence there and Prime Minister Narendra Modi must assuage concerns over the matter in a transparent manner. The governor said there was no communal angle in scrapping provisions of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. This announcement by the MHA comes amid a major communication blackout in the state after the Centre’s decision to abolish Article 370 that gives special status to the state and moved a separate bill to bifurcate the state into two separate Union Territories (UTs) of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. With inputs from agencies