NEW DELHI, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- Around 190 schools out of 900 in and around Srinagar, the summer capital of India-controlled Kashmir, reopened on Monday after nearly two weeks since India decided to withdraw special status to the region and deployed heavy security to avoid local protests.
Besides schools and educational institutions being shut down, all landline, mobile phones and internet connections have been snapped for over a fortnight.
Media reports quoted India-controlled Kashmir government's spokesperson Rohit Kansal on Sunday as expressing that he hopes to restore full functionality in government offices.
Chief Secretary of India-controlled Kashmir B.V.R. Subrahmanyam said on Friday that the restrictions in the region will be eased in a gradual manner over the next few days.
"Keeping in view the evolving situation, as well as the cooperation of the people in maintaining peace, we are now taking measures to ease the restrictions in a gradual, calibrated manner," he said.
An official notification was issued in the name of Indian President Ram Nath Kovind on Aug. 5, revoking the special status to Indian-controlled Kashmir by abrogating Article 370 of the country's Constitution. In another simultaneous decision, the central government also decided to bifurcate the region into two Union territories.
The two decisions evoked sharp reactions from neighbouring Pakistan. Pakistan took the matter to be discussed at the United Nations Security Council last week.
Meanwhile, India maintained that it was fully authorized to make the decisions as they were its internal matters.
