Valley witnessed a working Monday after 23 weeks

Kashmir markets and educational institutions opened for normal activities for the first time on Monday after 23 weeks since the unrest erupted in the Valley on July 8.
This is for the first time that the separatists, jointly issuing protest calendars, have extended the “relaxation” in the shutdown to five days, which began on Sunday. The five-day “relaxation” practice is going to continue for two weeks till the end of this month. Issuing the scaled-down protest programme last week, the separatists have indicated to work out a protest plan for the next year, after six months of the current unrest that has hit hard the economy.
For the students of Class IX to XII, it was the first day at schools today after the annual examinations of Class X were conducted by the J&K State Board of School Education. Most of the schools have provisionally admitted the students for Class XI before the winter vacation begin at the end of this week. After nearly six months, the students sporting school uniforms were seen around their schools. For students up to Class VII, the winter vacation was declared last week due to severe cold conditions.
It was a working Monday for the office-goers too, who were seen using public transport and other modes after a gap of nearly six months.
The state government had issued strict instructions in September to ensure normal attendance in all offices after very thin attendance was observed in many offices hampering routine work. However, the attendance improved gradually with an improvement in the overall situation in the past several weeks, except for the educational institutions.
Militants hurl grenade at SSP’s house
Militants Militants targeted the residence of a Senior Superintendent of Police in Srinagar by lobbing a grenade but there was no damage, the police said.The ultras lobbed the grenade at the residence of Handwara SSP Ghulam Jeelani in the Bagh-e-Mehtab area of the city on Sunday night, a police official said. He said the grenade landed and exploded in the compound of the house but no damage was caused by it.
Separatists hold sit-in
The separatist leaders in Kashmir on Monday organised a joint sit-in at Lal Chowk in Srinagar, demanding an end to arrests and nocturnal raids. Members of separatist group JKLF and a faction of the Hurriyat Conference participated in the protest. The protesters displayed placards and raised slogans.