Srinagar: Strict curfew was imposed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda on Wednesday (September 10) with sporadic protests erupting in some places, while mobile internet was reportedly restricted in the adjoining Kishtwar district also in order to prevent protests against the detention of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Mehraj-ud-Din Malik.Protests were reported from some parts of the twin districts of the Chenab valley in the Jammu region, where authorities intensified restrictions on public movement under section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) that were clamped on Tuesday following widespread protests a day earlier against Malik’s detention under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA).Mobile internet restrictions continued in Doda for the second consecutive day on Wednesday. Locals residents who spoke with The Wire over phone said that all roads and alleys in the main Doda city were sealed by the authorities on Wednesday morning using spools of concertina wire and barricades that were manned by security personnel in riot gear.In Doda’s peripheries, security forces were deployed at major intersections and arterial roads to prevent the AAP leader’s supporters from staging protests.The historic city, which is normally bustling with people, wore deserted looks on Wednesday with all shops, educational institutions, banks and government offices closed while public and private transport was off the roads.“All the entry points to the main town were sealed last night and residents are not allowed to come out. Today, more buses carrying security personnel rolled into the city. The situation is very tense,” a resident of Doda, who didn’t want to be named, said over the phone.“It looks like a repeat of Kashmir in 2019,” said a local journalist, who wished to stay anonymous. “Strict restrictions are in place in the entire district and even the media is facing difficulties in covering the developments since Tuesday.”A communications blackout was imposed in Kashmir while a curfew was imposed, lasting for several weeks in the aftermath of the reading down of Article 370 in 2019.Police personnel detain agitators during a protest against the detention of AAP MLA Mehraj-ud-Din Malik under the Public Safety Act in Doda district on September 10, 2025. Photo: PTI.Under section 163 of BNSS, the Doda district administration has banned the assembly of four or more people, the carrying of arms or sharp-edged weapons and “provocative speeches/ slogans/gestures which may disrupt peace and harmony”.The order to restrict public movement, which was issued by additional deputy magistrate Anil Kumar Thakur on Tuesday, directed Doda’s senior superintendent of police to “ensure [its] implementation … in letter and spirit”.“Any violation of this order shall invite punitive action under the relevant sections of law,” it states.Section 223 of the BNSS covers the punishment for violations under section 163 of the BNSS and it grants sweeping powers to a magistrate to examine written complaints of violations and order the registration of an FIR without hearing the accused if the complaint is made by a government official.However, despite curfew-like restrictions, supporters of the incarcerated AAP leader staged a protest and later clashed with security forces in the Gandoh area of Doda.In the main Doda city, a similar protest was taken out by Malik’s supporters.Locals said that security personnel who have been deployed in strength across the hilly district charged with batons at the demonstrators, forcing them to disperse. It was not immediately known whether anyone was injured in the clashes.A video shot on Wednesday, which was accessed by The Wire, shows a silent sit-in protest being held in the Bhalessa area of Doda in support of Malik. Soon, a police gypsy arrives in the area, forcing the protesters to disperse.Later, a group of women supporters of Malik can be seen bundled into vans by policewomen.A local of Doda claimed that several dozen people have been detained in the district to prevent protests.Doda’s deputy commissioner Harvinder Singh could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts.In the adjoining Kishtwar, several dozen protesters waving the national flag marched in the Chatroo area in support of Malik on Wednesday.Shouting slogans like ‘Nahin chalegi nahin chalegi, gundagardi nahin chalegi’ (‘Don’t resort to hooliganism’) and ‘Galiyun se baazarun se, Inquilab aayega’ (‘From the streets and markets, the revolution will come’), the protesters demanded the immediate release of the AAP leader.AAP leader Sanjay Singh meets Shamasuddin Malik, father of detained party MLA Mehraj-ud-Din Malik, in Jammu on September 10, 2025. Photo: PTI.Deputy commissioner Kishtwar Pankaj Kumar Sharma said that the protesters in Chatroo were counselled by policemen following which they dispersed peacefully. He however denied that mobile internet was restricted.“Some telecom towers have been affected due to shortage of fuel due to which mobile internet was affected,” he told The Wire.Speaking with reporters in Baramulla, the ruling National Conference president Farooq Abdullah blamed Jammu and Kashmir lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha for the prevailing situation in the Chenab valley.“Police administration is under the LG. He is in charge and he will be responsible if anything untoward happens there”, Abdullah said.Speaking with reporters in Srinagar, People’s Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti demanded the release of Malik, alleging that his detention was a “ploy” to divert public attention from the controversy that broke out over the national emblem at the Hazratbal shrine.“He [Malik] was sacrificed to divert public attention. Arresting a people’s representative who has been seeking resolution of the issues in his constituency under the PSA will erode democracy,” she said.Meanwhile, AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh arrived in Jammu on Tuesday along with other party leaders and workers. Singh addressed a press conference in which he accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of “crushing” his party by repeatedly booking its top leaders including AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal in false cases.“It is illegal and unconstitutional that an elected public representative seeking a hospital for his constituency has been termed as a threat to the public and booked under the PSA which is used against terrorists. We are not going to tolerate this,” he said of Malik, alleging that the charges in his PSA dossier were politically motivated.Singh accused the saffron party of resorting to “cheap politics”, saying that the party’s legal team was going to challenge Malik’s detention in court.“Mehraj was fighting for his people. An elected MLA has never been booked under the PSA in Jammu and Kashmir’s history. Similar tactics have been used against our party chief and other leaders who were booked under false charges, but we are not going to remain silent,” he said.