People question Govt’s night curfew decision, say Kashmiris have ‘no night life’

Government’s decision for imposing night curfew has not gone well with people questioning it when tourist spots are open in Kashmir and won’t contain the virus.

Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has ordered an imposition of night curfew in the urban areas of eight districts, including Jammu and Srinagar, to check the spread of the soaring coronavirus cases.

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However, experts and common masses have questioned the decision saying it won’t stop spread of COVID-19 infection as there is no night life in Kashmir.

“It beats logic to have restrictions at night when most of the crowds are during the day,” said DAK President and influenza expert Dr Nisar ul Hassan in a statement.

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“One wonders how night curfew will help in curbing the spread, when people go about their business during the day hours,” he said.

“We have no night life in Kashmir. There is no movement at all during the night hours. Life comes to a standstill in the night.”

“All activities happen during the day and that is the time when virus transmission occurs,” DAK President said.

“It is during daytime that huge crowds are seen in markets, large gatherings are seen at social and public functions which is the main cause behind the spread of Covid-19 infection in the community.”

Kashmir is reeling under the grip of a raging second wave of Covid-19 with surge in number of cases and hospitalizations too.

J&K Government yesterday has announced imposition of night curfew from April 09 in a bid to contain the spread of coronavirus.

“The virus does not take rest during the day and becomes active during the night. It doesn’t work like that,” Dr Nisar said.

“There is no data to support the use of night curfew to reduce the virus transmission.”

“Even union health ministry has written to states like Maharashtra that night curfew has not much impact on virus transmission.”

“Instead of applying night curfew, we need to make people understand that corona is still here and they need to be cautious,” he said.

Abdul Hamid, a school teacher said that imposition of night curfew was a bizarre move by the government. “We have no night life in Kashmir then how can night curfew help to contain the COVID-19,” he said.

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Similarly, on last Sunday, authorities announced closure of schools in Kashmir upto class 9th for two weeks and one week for class 10th, 11th, and 12th. The decision was taken after around 200 students were tested positive for COVID-19 in schools across Kashmir.

At the same time, people have questioned the government’s move saying tourist spots have been kept open where tourists and locals visit without wearing masks or maintaining social distancing.

Tulip Garden and Badamwari in Srinagar have become a main attraction of tourists and locals, where people in large numbers throng these days.

“Government announced closure of school for safety of students but those children are now visiting Tulip Garden. I fail to understand for what purpose schools were closed when thousands of people visit gardens without even wearing masks,” Abdul Gani Bhat, a resident of Dalgate said.

On last Saturday, the tulip festival was thrown open by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha in presence of Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan.

An official of the Floriculture Department said over 1.10 lakh people have visited Tulip Garden since it was thrown open on March 25. (KINS)

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