Despite India's announcements about easing restrictions, critics remain anxious about lockdown in Kashmir

Indian authorities on Saturday began lifting restrictions in Kashmir, which has been on lockdown for nearly two weeks, following a decision to revoke the special status of the Muslim-majority region earlier this month.

Landline phone and mobile internet services are reportedly being restored throughout the region in phases, and India announced on Friday that schools and government offices are set to reopen on Monday. Despite the easing restrictions, many residents in Pakistan-administered Kashmir reportedly remain "anxious" and were still unable to contact their relatives in India-administered Kashmir. Asmat Pandith, a Kashmiri student in New Delhi told Al Jazeera that she and her fellow students were under a "mental siege" amid the lockdown that has prevented them from contacting their families. Students said they would only believe the Indian government has actually eased restrictions when they can see tangible results.

Critics have called the blackout an attempt to silence voices in Kashmir, a borderland region which has long been the focal point of tensions between India and Pakistan. Protests continued in the region on Friday, and police reportedly responded with tear gas and pellet-firing shotguns.

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Further, the United Nations Security Council on Friday met to discuss Kashmir for the first time in 54 years. Pakistan welcomed the meeting, and the country's ambassador to the U.N., Maleeha Lodhi, considered it an achievement. But India maintains that Kashmir is an internal matter and warned against heeding statements from Pakistan that "masquerade as the will of the international community." Read more at The New York Times and Al Jazeera.