SRINAGAR: On the steps of a small shop in a market complex, National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval , perched on a concrete parapet with a group of Kashmiri villagers in Shopian — where in 2016 security forces had eliminated Hizbul Mujhahideen militant Burhan Wani in an encounter— ate rice and vegetable curry out of styrofoam plates.Even as the Valley lockdown in the wake of reorganisation of Jammu & Kashmir has disappointed local businessmen and service class, Doval, who has been camping in the Valley for the last few days, took time out on Wednesday to meet people in Mughal Market of Shopian, one of the hotbeds of separatism and militancy in south Kashmir. During his interaction, he made polite enquiries about their businesses and apple orchards.Doval spoke in chaste Urdu with them while asking them about their opinion on New Delhi’s move. “Inshallah, accha rahega. Allah jo karta, theek hi karta hai (God willing, everything will be fine),” he told them.“Aap bilkul mutmayeen rahiye. Aapki hifazat, aapki salamati, yahi hum log chahte hain, ki yahan kis tarah se khushaali ho, aapke bachhe sukun se rahe, duniya mein apna naam bana sake,” he said, explaining that the safety and prosperity of kids of Jammu and Kashmir locals and their future generations was a priority of the Centre. “Aur woh apne mazhab Islam ki hifazat kar sake (So that they can protect their religion),” he added.As a couple of youths served the villagers from an aluminium pot, the NSA got up from the steps for a second helping of rice and curry. His lunch with the villagers was seen by many in Srinagar as an attempt to reach out to the common people in Kashmir after the sudden reorganisation of the state into two Union territories of Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir.Many in the J&K Police, CRPF and intelligence paraphernalia said that Doval took a sympathetic view of requests by Shopian villagers on removing restrictions on traffic, phone and Internet connectivity on Eid-ul-Zuha next week.The move by the Modi government has been received with shock and mixed feelings of anger, apprehension and concern in the Valley. Pre-emptively, the Centre shut down mobile, telephone and internet connectivity and imposed section 144, prohibiting assembly of people in public places. The shutdown has also evoked two different reactions, with some seeing it as the right step to prevent violent clashes while others calling it an obstruction to the daily livelihood.Read this story in Marathi