Eid spoiled, safest back home: Kashmiris head back home on a nearly full flight to Srinagar despite tension and curfew

Kashmiris head back home to Srinagar onboard a nearly full flight from Delhi. Here's how the scrapping of Article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir has affected them.

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The flight from Delhi to Srinagar is nearly full. There are no tourists or yatris on the flight, instead there are local Kashmiris who are heading back home, barring a handful of government and military troopers.

The men and women on the plane are heading back after the Modi government's historic announcement scrapping Article 370 of the Constitution. The state they belong to has been dissolved into two Union Territories- Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

Qamran, 22, is a college student studying in Chandigarh, but he is headed back home in times of uncertainty. Onboard the Indigo flight, he said that he left for Delhi immediately after Home Minister Amit Shah's big announcement in Rajya Sabha on Monday.

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"I have lost contact with my parents, I am worried about my parents," he said. Fearing backlash against Kashmiri students, Qamran said, "I am worried about my own safety."

"The SSP Chandigarh came to our college to ensure we are safe, but I decided to leave anyway," he added.

A 30-year-old businessman from Pampore said Imran Ashraf he was staying in a hotel in Paharganj, but was asked to leave the hotel. "They told me you are a Kashmiri, you people indulge in terror activities. I left immediately for the airport. After 12 hours of waiting, I finally boarded the flight," he said.

Munisa and Mudassir from Rawalpora, Srinagar, said, "We are heading back home. We are safest there. We don't know how we will make it back home since there is no communication but we will."

Mukhtar Wani, who is travelling with his wife and two-year-old son, said, "I have home in Delhi but it's the family back in Srinagar I am worried about. Whatever happens we will face it together."

Hundreds of people are at the Srinagar airport, some angry and annoyed. "The abrogation of Article 370 and 35A has been forced on us. We have been held and told that curfew is imposed on us," an elderly man said.
Another man said "Our Eid has been spoiled."

Meanwhile, the exodus from Kashmir Valley continued and the administration also sent 160 students and over 50 students free of cost out of the state.

The situation in the Valley remains tense, despite no reports of violence. A few incidents of stone pelting were also reported. But after a huge clampdown, only a few people were seen on roads.