Blackout in Amritsar, citizens instructed to stay at home

AMRITSAR: Blackout was reported in the Indian Punjab city of Amritsar in early hours of Thursday.

Acceding to reports, citizens were instructed to stay at home, with the Amritsar administration forbidding all residents from going outside. Public gatherings were also forbidden.

Read more: Trump tells India and Pakistan to ‘stop’ clashes

“Citizens should not go out of their homes and do not gather in one place”, the local government stated.

The local administration in the Indian Punjab city of Amritsar officially gave the reason for the blackout as a precautionary measure only.

According to Reuters, India shut down several airports, with the Indigo and Spicejet airlines cancelling all flights. Air India reported that two international flights en route to Amritsar were diverted to the Indian capital, New Delhi.

The Indian carrier later reported that all flights from Indian-occupied Jammu and Srinagar were cancelled. Flights from other Indian cities such as Jodhpur, Amritsar, Bhuj, Chandigarh and Rajkot were also cancelled till 12 pm on Thursday.

The reason given for the cancellations was due to the “ongoing situation” without elaborating much. Pakistan closed its airspace on Wednesday following Indian attack on Pakistan-administered Kashmir, which led to retaliatory strikes from the former. Over six Indian jets were shot down, before Indian side conceded defeat by waving a white flag.

Read more: Atta Tarar declares Indian attack a ‘cowardly attack’ in interview with Al Jazeera 

India has been blaming Pakistan without evidence for the Pahalgam attack that killed 26 tourists in Indian-occupied Kashmir on April 22. Pakistani government had been warning of Indian intensions of attacking Pakistan for weeks now.