Many Jammu Residents Hail Integration As Best Option

Phone and internet connectivity continue to be disrupted.

- Damini Nath

Looking at a nearly deserted road that functions as Jammu’s main outstation bus stand, Shubham Sharma said on Wednesday that though his business of ferrying passengers to Srinagar had taken a hit over the past three days, he was sure that “this [amending Article 370] was the best option, even for Kashmiris.”

It had been three days since the government imposed restrictions under Section 144 of the CrPC, curtailing vehicular movement and shutting off mobile Internet services in Jammu, ahead of its announcement of revoking Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and bifurcating the State into two Union Territories on Monday.

While many Jammu residents welcomed the Modi government’s move, across the road from Mr. Sharma, Umar, a resident of Srinagar who also runs a tourism transport business, termed it a “betrayal.”