Excelsior Correspondent
POONCH, Aug 1: Tension gripped sensitive border town of Mendhar today after an act of desecration at a religious place resulting into day long protest and blockade of Mendhar-Poonch and Mendhar -Surankote roads by irate public for over nine hours at Ari village near Mendhar town of this border district.
The incident at Palesar hamlet near Ari spread like a wild fire in the entire area and the people from minority community started reaching the religious place. The seven day long religious function (Saptah) at the religious place had concluded yesterday and tomorrow was the Havan and Langar. The preparations were going on for the same.
In the morning, when the priest, who was sleeping in a room in the complex of religious place went for Pooja, he found the door open and the idols broken. He moved back and informed head priest Pandit Sham Lal about the matter. The people from the area also came to know about the matter and rushed there.
They immediately reached Police Post Ari and informed Incharge PP ASI A S Ghai about the matter. The police party reached the spot and contacted SDPO and SHO about the matter. The people from Hindu community started reaching the religious places, which was hardly 2 kilometers away from Mendhar town.
The people then raised barricades at around 7 am and sat on dharna. They stopped movement of traffic on Mendhar-Surankote and Mendhar-Poonch road. The people including women and children started shouting slogans against the Government, police and district administration. Many prominent members from district unit of Vishav Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal, Sanatan Dharam Sabha Poonch and Mendhar reached the spot.
The Beopar Mandal Mendhar gave call for bandh and many members joined traders. At Ari, it was complete bandh by both the communities while at Mendhar it was partial.
Mendhar Beopar Mandal president Parveen Kumar Sawhney, Devinder Kumar Tandon Sarpanch and convenor Hanuman Mandir Committee Mendhar, SD Sabha president Satish Sharma and many others joined the protest. They also addressed huge public gathering and strongly condemned the act. National Conference MLC Javed Rana and MLA Mendhar, Rafiq Hussain Khan also condemned the incident and termed it as an act of enemy agents.
SHO Mendhar, SDPO Amit Bhasin, Tehsildar Subash Dogra and SDM Mendhar Ranjit Singh tried to convince the public but the agitating people refused to move away. They demanded arrest of accused persons and re-installation of damaged idols at the temple by releasing special funds by Government and provision of security at the religious places of minority community in the area. ADC Poonch Anwar Hussain and SSP Poonch Shamsheer Hussain also reached the town in the evening. A large number of vehicles remained stranded on the road for hours together and the passengers had to face tough time.
The officers later talked to Divisional Commissioner Jammu Pardeep Gupta and IGP Jammu Dilbagh Singh on phone. Later, on their assurance, the leading community leaders gave 72-hour ultimatum to the local administration to arrest the accused and restore the idols, failing which they will resume indefinite agitation. The public lifted dharna at around 4 pm and allowed movement of traffic.
Meanwhile, the police claimed to have arrested two suspects from Palesar village where the incident took place. slog
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