City Chowk in Jammu began showing signs of reopening after days of border tension between India and Pakistan, with a few shopkeepers cautiously resuming operations following a ceasefire. Although most businesses remained shut, some shop owners opened their shops in hopes that the relative calm would lead to normalcy. Tarsem Lal Gupta, who runs a bag shop, noted that while the situation seemed to be stabilizing, there was still no business due to the absence of workers and customers. He emphasized that many shops couldn’t open because their labourers, who are often from outside, had not returned out of fear.
Street vendors and daily wage earners expressed deeper concern about the economic impact. Sikander, a hawker, highlighted how difficult it was to survive without earnings, especially when responsibilities like rent and raising children remained. He shared that Sundays were usually the most profitable, but the lack of customers left him struggling to cover even basic needs. While hopeful for peace, he said they preferred stability over war, wanting only for business to resume and life to return to normal.
Auto-rickshaw drivers like Sunny Ganotra also faced immense hardship, reporting negligible income and growing pressure to provide for their families amid fear and disruption. With a paralysed mother and an ill father at home, Ganotra explained that even earning ?80 in a day wasn’t enough to feed two households. He urged the government to restore order quickly, stressing how dependent working-class families are on daily earnings. Despite some movement in the markets, fear still gripped the area, leaving residents anxiously awaiting a complete return to stability.
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