Muted celebrations mark Eid in Valley

Srinagar, Aug 13 (IANS) With extremely low key celebrations, Eid was perhaps never so sombre and subdued in Kashmir.

The region has been locked down and is facing a total communication blackout since last week, hours before both the Houses of the Parliament passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, 2019, and adopted the resolution to scrap Article 370 and Article 35A, paving way for bifurcation of the state into two Union Territories (UTs) -- Jammu and Kashmir with an Assembly and Ladakh sans one.

Like in other parts of the world, Eid is celebrated in Kashmir with a lot of gusto and enthusiasm. Markets are normally abuzz with activities and Eid shopping and people would throng the bakeries in large numbers. But this year it is just the opposite. Markets are dipped in an erie silence. Nobody knows what's going to happen after Eid.

While very few bakeries opened briefly in Srinagar, most of them were almost empty with very little to offer to the customers who were hard to find.

There was also a significant drop in the sale of sheep for sacrifice on the day of Eid. Shepherds were seen with flock of sheep on different roads of Srinagar but there weren't many takers. The main sheep market at Idgah in Srinagar was not even 10 per cent of what it normally is ahead of Eid.

Ghulam Nabi, a shepherd who reared sheep for more than a year for selling them on the eve of Eid, slashed the prices but even then couldn't lure many buyers. "On a normal day, a sheep would fetch Rs 15,000 but I am selling it for just Rs 10,000 now," Nabi said.

Most people who would otherwise buy 2 to 3 animals for Eid settled for just one this time.