The Jammu Kashmir Police Wednesday refuted the claims made by shopkeepers from Panthachowk stating that they were ordered to shut down their shops for a period of fourty days in view of the Amarnath Yatra.
In a statement, the Police has said, “There is a story going in ‘certain groups’ that shops are closed in Pantha Chowk, it is clarified that all shops are completely open in whole of Srinagar distt including in Panthachowk, except about a dozen or more mechanical/scrap shops inside yatra camp campus.”
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The statement further added that these shop owners were asked to get the verification done and operate the shops, but instead of doing this they opted to protest under influence of some vested interests.
“Media houses are kindly requested to get confirmation from Administration before doing sweeping stories on such sensitive matters during Yatra period which can be used by subversive elements to peddle fake narratives,” the press release quoted the SSP Srinagar as saying.
Pertinently scores of shopkeepers from Pantha Chowk staged a protest on Wednesday stating that they had been ordered to shut down their shops for fiurty days in view of the annual Amarnath yatra.