The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to lift restrictions imposed by the Centre in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) after the abrogation of Article 370 as a precautionary measure to avoid any untoward incident in the Valley.

Mentioning that the situation is sensitive in Kashmir, the Supreme Court said, "it would not like to pass any order that will affect normalcy and lead to any loss of lives."

The apex court said this during hearing on a petition filed by Tehseen Poonawalla seeking withdrawal of curfew, blocking of phone lines, internet, news channels and other restrictions from J&K.

The Centre assured the court that the situation in J&K is being monitored on a daily basis and a stage-by-stage decision is being reviewed to lift restrictions depending on the best interest of the administration and peace.

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Supreme Court has now posted the matter for hearing after two weeks.

The Centre's response came after a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra, asked Attorney General for the government, Tushar Mehta, "How long are you going to continue this? (Lockdown in Kashmir)"

Meanwhile, speaking on the current situation in the Valley, J&K Principal Secretary (Planning Commission) R Kansal said, "We saw disturbances in the state in 2008 and 2016 too. There were 37 deaths in first week of 2016, but in the past week, there hasn't been a single casualty. By imposing reasonable restrictions at least we've been able to save human lives."

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Centre recently withdrew special status to Jammu and Kashmir and passed the Jammu and Kashmir (Reorganization) Act 2019, reorganising the state into two Union Territories — Jammu and Kashmir with legislature and Ladakh without it.