Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Aug 13: Curfew continued for fifth consecutive day in Kishtwar town and outskirts today without any relaxation as people faced massive shortage of essential commodities though there was no let up in tensions prevailing in the town since last Friday’s large-scale violence.
Curfew continued in seven other districts of Jammu region with relaxation of different periods. Curfew was relaxed for first time in Jammu City and other areas this evening for three hours and parts of Doda district including Bhaderwah town for one hour after four and three days respectively.
Only security forces participated in full dress rehearsal on the eve of Independence Day at Mini Stadium, Parade Ground as the school children and cultural troupes couldn’t make it to the venue due to curfew.
Pilgrimage to Shri Amarnath ji shrine resumed today after four days of suspension from Yatri Niwas, Bhagwati Nagar under Army protection while yatra to Machail Mata Ji in Kishtwar and Budda Amarnath Ji in Poonch remained suspended. Some passengers of Machail Mata Ji shrine remained stranded at Gulabgarh and authorities said efforts would be made to rescue them tonight.
DIG Jammu-Kathua range Shakeel Ahmad Beig told the Excelsior that curfew was relaxed in parts of Jammu City from 4 pm to 7 pm for the first time after it was imposed on Saturday night following incidents of arson and violence in some parts during bandh called by various organisations to denounce Kishtwar violence.
“The relaxation period passed off peacefully,” he added.
Divisional Commissioner, Jammu Shantmanu and IGP Jammu Rajesh Kumar told media conference this evening that a decision on further relaxation of curfew in Jammu district would be taken tomorrow after detailed review of the situation.
Shantmanu said curfew was relaxed for different period in seven districts of Jammu region. However, no relaxation was given in Kishtwar, he added.
He said Amarnath yatra was resumed after four days today under Army protection and the yatris have safely reached to Baltal and Nunwan base camps. He added that authorities have detained 19 more trouble makers across the region today taking total number of arrests and detentions to 130. While 11 persons have been arrested in Kishtwar, rest have been detained in other parts of Jammu.
IGP Jammu Rajesh Kumar said there was no threat to Independence Day celebrations and they would be held as usual under tight security arrangements.
“Though there has been escalation of tensions on the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB) but there was no terror threat to Independence Day. All security arrangements have been made for peaceful celebrations,” Mr Kumar added.
Authorities said curfew was relaxed in City South from 4 pm to 6 pm. Though officially no relaxation was given in northern and eastern parts of the City, police Gypsies announced that curfew has been relaxed from 4 pm to 6 pm in the Old City also. Minutes later, police started closing down the shops that had opened in the Old City leading to rumours among the people of different kind.
However, police in some places allowed shopkeepers to keep their shutters open while in some areas, they were forced to close them. Relaxation in City South was extended up to 7 pm after which curfew was imposed again in Jammu.
Authorities said a decision on relaxation of curfew in Jammu tomorrow would be taken after fresh assessment of the situation tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Police Headquarters today set up a Special Investigating Team (SIT) to probe all riots and other cases registered in Kishtwar during Friday and follow up incidents of violence.
The team comprised Shiv Kumar Chouhan, SP, Chief Prosecuting Officer (CPO) Kamal Sharma, Farhat Jeelani, DySP, Inspector Sajjad Khan and Bandeshwar Manhas and Sub Inspector Mohammad Sadiq.
Full dress rehearsal, an important event held two days before Independence Day, was organised at Mini Stadium, Parade Ground this afternoon but only security forces attended it, sources said, adding that school children and cultural troupes couldn’t make it to the event due to curfew restrictions.
Internet services on mobile telephones remained suspended for third consecutive day.
Curfew continued in Kishtwar town and outskirts for fifth consecutive day today with Army patrolling sensitive areas. Sources said authorities decided against giving any relaxation in curfew in view of simmering tension among the for heavy losses of their property including shops etc caused on the day of Eid festival by the miscreants of majority community.
However, no fresh incident of violence was reported from any part of Kishtwar today. Trouble had erupted in Hadyal Chowk of Kishtwar yesterday after a youth from minority community was lifted by the police for rioting.
Excelsior received frantic calls from the people of Kishtwar alleging that they were facing massive shortage of essential commodities including milk for children, vegetables and ration items. The people warned that their resentment might take a violent turn if authorities didn’t relax curfew and allow them to purchase essential commodities.
“There was complete failure of civil and police administration in Kishtwar. They have no liaison with the people. No one is ready to meet them. This has aggravated the tensions and was the major reason for indefinite curfew for five consecutive days,” the people said.
Minorities have, meanwhile, decided that no individual or organisation will meet authorities or any delegation separately. The delegation would meet only under the aegis of Sanatan Dharam Sabha with representation of all parties and organisations, they said and warned the administration for trying to strike balance while making arrests in rioting cases. They said the miscreants, who have caused large scale damage to the property of minorities should be booked immediately.
In Jammu, barring an attack on wooden store at Vikas Nagar, Patoli Mangotrian by the miscreants this evening, no other untoward incident was reported from any area. The miscreants threw a patrol bottle on the store to set it on fire. They beat-up the Chowkidar, However, they failed in burning the wooden store and fled away after pelting stones.
Senior police officers reached the spot and controlled the situation. Army conducted patrolling in the area. Locals said having failed to arrest the culprits responsible for torching a shop in Sarwal and latest incident at Vikas Nagar today, the police was harassing and beating-up innocent youth. They threatened to take to streets if the police didn’t mend it ways. They warned that police would be responsible for the repercussions if innocent youth, who had nothing to do in the violence continued to be harassed. They said police should arrest the culprits and not target the innocent persons.
Situation in entire Jammu district remained peaceful. No major incident of stone pelting or any other kind of violence was reported from any part of the district today. However, Army, CRPF, police and JKAP remained deployed in sensitive areas. There were large scale complaints that JKAP and local police were resorting to harassment of the people including those holding valid curfew passes.
People held protests in some areas of Jammu during curfew but remained completely peaceful. No major incidents of stone pelting were reported today.
Meanwhile, even after the rescue operation, a number of pilgrims of Machail Mata Ji remained stranded in Gulabgarh area of Kishtwar. For past three consecutive nights, authorities have rescued several pilgrims from Gulabgarh and shifted them to safer areas in Udhampur and Jammu under Army protection. As the `langars’ have also stopped at Gulabgarh due to non availability of supplies, the left out pilgrims were in worst condition and were ringing up media persons seeking their immediate rescue.
A stranded pilgrim, Meenu Gupta in an email sent to the Excelsior said yatris, who had gone to Machail Matai ji temple by air have been trapped at Gulabgarh, Kishtwar as the helicopter company has stopped its operation.
“We urged the concerned authorities to direct the helicopter company officials to bring back the trapped yatris,” she said.
Pilgrimage to Machail Mata Ji remained suspended for fifth consecutive day today from Jammu and Kishtwar. However, yatra of Shri Amarnath Ji shrine resumed this morning after four days of suspension from Yatri Niwas, Bhagwati Nagar. The pilgrims left the Yatri Niwas at 5 am and reached Baltal and Nunwan this evening. Army protection was given to the yatris.
Pilgrimage to Shri Budda Amarnath Ji shrine in Poonch district also remained suspended from Jammu and other areas. The Budda Amarnath ji yatris have left Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas as there were no chances of resumption of yatra in view of disturbances in Rajouri, where curfew remained enforced for fourth day today.
Miscreants pelted stones on eight trucks laden with apples at Dhar Road, Udhampur last night causing damage to them. Sources said the trucks had been directed to take National Highway but they diverted their vehicles to Dhar Road in panic. Suddenly, the mob appeared on the road and pelted stones on the trucks, which were damaged.
DIG Udhampur-Doda range Gareeb Dass and SSP Udhampur Anil Magotra along with strong contingents of police rushed to the spot and restored the order. The trucks were driven to Jammu under tight police protection. Army was deployed in the area. The stone pelters managed to escape but, police said, they were being traced.
A case has been registered against the accused.
In view of Amarnath yatra convoy, curfew was not relaxed in Udhampur town this morning. However, it was relaxed in the evening from 6 pm to 8 pm. Situation in Udhampur and all other towns in the district remained normal during the day. BJP activists led by senior leader Pawan Gupta took out a procession in the town condemning Kishtwar violence. The Panther Party Students Union also took out a procession in the town to register protest against the violence.
A couple from Czech Republic has also been stranded in Kishtwar district.
Aleshilik, along with his wife Marketa, were preparing to start a trekking expedition from Kishtwar for Dacchan and Paddar areas and to the Zanaskar belt of Ladakh, when communal violence broke in the town and curfew was imposed.
“We had pleaded with the authorities including the police to get us out of town, but there was no response. Nobody came forward to help us,” Aleshilik said.
“We are living in a hotel like hostages without proper facilities and food,” he added.
While there was no curfew in Doda, authorities relaxed curfew in sensitive Bhaderwah town for one hour today from 3.30 pm to 4.30 pm. Curfew in Thathri and Prem Nagar was relaxed from 3 pm to 5 pm while day curfew has been lifted from Gandoh, DC Doda Mubarak Singh and SSP Doda Arif Reshu said.
However, Army continued to patrol sensitive areas.
In Samba curfew was relaxed at 9.30 am today and life returned to normal in most of the towns including Samba, Bari Barahamana, Vijaypur and Ramgarh.
In Kathua town, curfew was relaxed from 8 am to 10 pm while in other towns of the district, curfew was relaxed for five to seven hours in the day. The BJP activists and allied organisations took out a procession to Main Chowk, Kathua defying curfew. They burnt the effigy of MP Lal Singh for his “anti-BJP remarks” in Lok Sabha.
SSP Kathua Mohan Lal said situation remained peaceful in entire Kathua district.
DC Reasi Shahid Iqbal said curfew was relaxed from 6 am to 8 am. However, he added, the relaxation period was extended up to 10 am due to peaceful conditions.
People in large number defied curfew at 11 am and took out procession in Main Bazaar up to Sanatan Dharam Sabha office. The procession passed off peacefully. A shutdown was observed in Pouni and some other towns of Reasi district.
Tension gripped Chassana after a sacrilegious act was detected. However, civil and police officials rushed to the spot and arrested the accused.. Full dress rehearsal for Independence Day couldn’t be held today.
Katra town also observed bandh. About 40,000 pilgrims have visited Mata Vaishno Devi ji shrine during last two days. Yatra to Vaishno Devi and Shiv Khori shrine was progressing smoothly.
In Rajouri and Sunderbani towns, situation remained normal during curfew relaxation. In Ramban district, bandh was observed in Ramban and Batote towns.
Commercial traffic remained off the Jammu-Srinagar, Jammu-Pathankot and Batote-Kishtwar National Highways besides Jammu-Rajouri road. Private traffic, however, plied on the highways and major roads during curfew relaxation.
Meanwhile, members of the minority business community in Kishtwar have threatened to move out of the area unless the State Government took steps to provide security and pay compensation to them following the communal clashes which broke out in the town on Eid.
“We want security and licensed weapons. The Government should also compensate us for our losses in the arson on Friday,” said Rakesh Gupta, president of the Kishtwar Chamber of Commerce.
Mr Gupta alleged that members of the minority business community had incurred losses of a total Rs 80 crore in the clashes.
“If the Government failed to fulfill our demands, we will migrate away from Kishtwar. We have been facing such attacks repeatedly,” said Mr Gupta, who lost his garment showroom in the arson.
“Such clashes is not a new thing for us. We have faced such cases in 1993, 1998, 2003 and 2008, but they were of a lesser magnitude,” he said.
Over 150 small and big business establishments were affected in the clashes, he said.
“But the Government will pay compensation of a few lakhs only and that is it,” Mr Gupta said.
“I have lost my entire business in a fire triggered by miscreants. Its value was over Rs 20 lakh and it was my livelihood,” said Khushi Ram Shan, whose two shops dealing with plywood retail and hardware was burnt down on Friday.
Vijay Kumar Parihar, who had recently obtained a loan to set up an eatery was cursing himself for having opened a business in Kishtwar.
“My shop was set on fire and my dream project is no more”, he said.
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