Curfew lifted from entire Kashmir Valley

SRINAGAR: Curfew was on Sunday lifted from the entire Kashmir Valley following improvement in the situation after days of violent street protests and police firing.

Relative calm prevailed in the city and other parts of the Valley, prompting the authorities to lift the curfew, police said. Curfew was withdrawn from three districts of the state -- Budgam, Gandarbal and Kupwara -- and some localities of the Srinagar city on Saturday.

As per police, curfew has now been withdrawn from the districts of Anantnag, Srinagar, Baramulla, Kulgam, Bandipora, Shopian and Pulwama.

Curfew was imposed in the entire Valley on July 31 in the wake of violent protests in which 33 people were killed and several others, including securitymen, injured.

The latest round of violence in the Valley saw protestors attacking and torching government and police buildings, railway stations and vehicles, prompting hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani to issue a surprise appeal telling agitators that burning public property would damage the "movement".

Urging people of Kashmir to "heed to voices of reason" and desist from violent protests, home minister P Chidambaram had on August 4 promised to reactivate a dialogue to address their grievances once normalcy is restored in the Valley.

Battling the upsurge in violence in the Valley, chief minister Omar Abdullah had visited Delhi and met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last week. Omar had said the state needs a political initiative to deal with the situation but made it clear that for that to happen a semblance of normalcy was needed.