Kashmir: Footpath vendors defy strike call to observe Infantry Day as 'black day'

For the first time in three decades, footpath vendors of a flea market here on Sunday defied the strike call to observe October 27 as a 'black day' to protest against the 73rd Infantry Day, officials said.

The Infantry Day is celebrated to commemorate the operations launched by the Indian Army on October 27, 1947, to thwart the Pakistani aggression on the State.

It was business as usual in the weekly flea market, which has now become a permanent fixture along the TRC-Batamaloo axis on the Residency Road after the abrogation of Article 370 provisions on August 5, the officials said.

They said some shops were also open in the Regal Chowk and the Residency Road areas till noon, following the new routine of closing the shops in the second half of the day to protest against the revocation of the special status of the state.

While private transport was moving around normally, few cabs could be seen plying the city roads