The Jammu and Kashmir government on Saturday said that Opposition leaders were sent back from the Srinagar airport to avoid inconvenience to residents and to ensure “no violations of the restrictions were committed”, The Hindu reported.

“At a time when the government is trying to protect people of J&K from the threat of cross-border terrorism and the attacks by militants and separatists, no attempts should be made by senior political leaders to disturb the gradual restoration of the normal life,” said Rohit Kansal, the principal secretary in the state government.

Kansal said the administration had made its position clear in advance and had requested the political leaders to cooperate. “They [Opposition leaders] would be putting other people to inconvenience and also violating restrictions still in place in many areas,” he said. “The government’s top priority remains public order, peace and preventing the loss of life.”

The state administration had on Friday asked the leaders not to visit the state, citing similar reasons.

Still, on Saturday afternoon, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi led a 12-member delegation of Opposition leaders to Jammu and Kashmir to review the situation in the state, only to be sent back to Delhi. The delegation included Communist Party of India leader D Raja, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury, and Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and KC Venugopal.

High alert

Meanwhile, Kansal said security forces were in a state of high alert along the Line of Control and the International Border as the threat of cross-border terrorism “continues to exist”, PTI reported. However, within the state, protests and incidents of stone pelting have declined steadily in the past one week, he said.

Kansal added that the day-time restrictions had been lifted from 69 police station areas in the Kashmir Valley and 81 police station areas in the Jammu region. Traffic movement increased on Saturday and attendance in offices was better, he said. Public transport stayed off roads and markets were closed for the 20th straight day.

Kansal added that 1,500 primary schools and 1,000 middle schools had reopened, but the attendance was thin. Eight more telephone exchanges are likely to be restored over the weekend, he said.

Strict restrictions had been imposed on movement of the public on Friday ahead of the weekly prayers and a proposed march of separatists to the United Nations office in Srinagar.

The state has been under an unprecedented lockdown ever since the central government decided to revoke its special status on August 5. Thousands of troops have been deployed to prevent law and order situations in the region and communication lines have been cut off for several weeks now. The authorities have claimed that the restrictions would be eased gradually, however protests in the Valley have made it difficult to do so.

On Saturday, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) had said that Sitaram Yechury had filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court for the production of his party colleague Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami, who has been under detention in Jammu and Kashmir, PTI reported. Tarigami, a four-time MLA, has been unwell. Yechury had tried to visit Srinagar to meet him earlier this month but was sent back to Delhi.

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