New Delhi: As the Dera fights what it calls the battle for justice and the Indian Army tries to control the emotive situation, the residents of Punjab find it difficult to live a normal life in a curfew zone. The crisis has spilt over to neighbouring Jammu.
Those stranded on the highways and at Railway stations find it difficult to go on in a state of limbo.
It's the most unlikely group of cricketers one may find when a bank manager, a battery manufacturer and a sports dealer are forced to play with the bat one of them used to sell.
“Nothing is happening. We have been playing cricket for the past two days,” said businessman Bharat Mittal.
“We used to start the day at 5.30, now nothing is happening,” said sports dealer Pushp Kohli.
As curfew in towns like Phagwara, Ludhiana, Jallander and Hoshiarpur enters its third day, it's not just the industry and the essential services that have been crippled. Several people's lives have also been put on hold.
The curfew in Hoshiarpur stopped Varun Bhaskar from attending his own engagement.
The family was all set to go to Gurdaspur for the ring ceremony but the rail and road blocks forced the groom and his relatives to stay back at their Hoshiarpur home.
Varun Bhaskar laments that the engagement had to be cancelled.
The violence has completely disrupted road and rail traffic in many parts.
Along with Indians, almost one hundred Pakistani citizens are also stranded at the Attari railway station without proper food or water. They had come to India to visit friends and relatives.
The trouble in Punjab has also cut off rail links between Jammu and rest of the country.
Over 20,000 passengers are stranded at the Jammu Railway station, most of them being tourists and pilgrims to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine.
The station is flooded with travellers who cannot travel, or go anyplace else. The Army has provided medical aid, food and water but soaring summer temperatures make matters worse.
(With inputs from Divya Iyer, Pawan Bali and Geetika Pokhriyal)
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