Srinagar: The Union government is creating a “false impression” about normalcy in Kashmir where people have shown great maturity in the wake of “sheer injustice” done to them on August 5, former union finance minister Yashwant Sinha said on Saturday.“Normalcy means people will carry their business normally, earn their wages normally and children will go to school normally. But none of this is happening in Kashmir,” Sinha told The Wire, in an exclusive chat. “Forcing people to live without internet and depriving them of even basic SMS service is not normalcy but sheer injustice.”Sinha arrived in the summer capital Srinagar on Friday as part of “Concerned Citizens’s Group” to assess the ground situation in the region and compile a report about it to present the “true picture” of the situation to the country.Other members of the group include former Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah, former Air Vice Marshal Kapil Kak, journalist Bharat Bhushan and activist Sushoba Bharve.Soon after their arrival, the group met several delegations of traders and businessmen. They also interacted with representatives of civil society groups and the Kashmiri Pandit community at a local hotel.The group is scheduled to travel to the Pulwama district of southern Kashmir on Saturday. It will visit the adjoining Shopian district on Sunday before returning to Delhi. Several national and international media organisations have reported about alleged human rights violation at the hands of the security forces in the twin districts after the Centre unilaterally stripped J&K of its special status.Sinha, who has been the critic of the Centre’s handling of Kashmir situation, said people in the rest of the country have been made to believe that everything was normal in the Valley.This “false impression”, he said, was further buttressed by the statement of Union home minister Amit Shah in the Parliament.On November 20, the home minister told the Parliament that the situation was “fully normal” in Jammu and Kashmir and a decision on lifting the internet curbs in the Valley will be taken soon.Also read: Without Internet, Kashmir’s Doctoral Scholars Are Stumped for a Way Forward“So when you come to Kashmir you come with the impression that everything is normal. But it is totally opposite on the ground here. The shops are closed, there is very little private traffic on the roads and no public transport at all,” said Sinha. “This is not normal. The government of India has created a false impression of the situation. Things are far from normal and the impression which is sought to be created by the government that things are normal is a false impression.”The situation in Kashmir continues to be tense after the government of India read down Article 370 of the Constitution and bifurcated the state into two Union Territories on August 5. The move stripped the J&K of its separate flag and Constitution.Fearing backlash in the Valley, the Centre imposed strict restrictions and snapped all means of communication including internet and mobile services.A deserted view of a market during shutdown, in Srinagar, Friday, November 22, 2019. Photo: PTIWhile the restriction on the movement have been lifted and post-paid mobile service restored since then, internet and pre-paid mobile remains suspended. Public transport is largely off the roads and markets remain closed in protests against the Article 370 move.Post-August 5, shops open for some hours in the morning and remain closed for the rest of the day.“The people are protesting in their own way. This is civil disobedience in Kashmir where the writ of the people and not the government is running large on the ground,” said Sinha. “If shops are not open, then you have to see it as a protest to convey a message, it is not violence. It is a new form of protest that people of Kashmir are following and there is no stone-pelting and no violence so that the government does not take advantage of the situation.”Sinha credited the people of Kashmir for the peaceful situation in the region. “If the situation has remained peaceful in Kashmir and there have been no violent protests or stone-pelting incidents the credit goes to people who have behaved with maturity by not indulging in any violence ever since the government enforced the clampdown,” said Sinha.During his speech to the Parliament, the home minister had said that not a single person has died due to police firing since August 5. “People in this house were predicting bloodshed but I am happy to inform that no one has died in police firing. Incidents of stone-pelting have declined from 802 last year to 544 so far this year,” the minister had said.Also read: Fact Check: 4 Kashmiris Died After Security Forces Action, Yet Amit Shah Says ‘No Deaths’Sinha said if there have been no killings in the Valley then the credit goes to people. “How will they (forces) fire bullets when there is no need to fire the bullets? People have behaved with immense maturity despite undergoing sufferings and pain,” said Sinha.Hitting out at the government of India for “committing one after another mistake” while dealing with Kashmir situation, Sinha said there was a great deal of anger and disappointment among people in Kashmir and the complete absence of any hope for the future from the Centre.Without naming anyone, Sinha said “these intellectually challenged people” in the government have no understanding of the situation in Kashmir.“The August 5 decision was a case of sheer injustice perpetrated to people of Jammu and Kashmir by the government sitting in Delhi which is not sensitive to the feeling of people,” said Sinha.He said the Centre took the decision for electoral gains in states like Haryana and Maharashtra. “But it didn’t come their way,” he said. “It was the great injustice done to people and sooner or later it has to be undone.”He said splitting of the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories was “very unfortunate” and against democracy. “The decision goes completely against the ethos of our country,” he said.During their stay in the Valley, the group is also planning to meet incarcerated politicians including former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti.The trio have been under detention since August 5. “We will try to meet them,” said Sinha.