Jammu: With no incident of violence reported in Rajouri, the authorities on Monday relaxed the curfew for seven hours there, police said.
“The curfew, which is being continued for the fi
fth consecutive day today, has been relaxed for seven hoursâ€.
There was no report of any untoward incident so far and the situation is under control,” SSP Vijay Singh Sambyal said. The authorities first relaxed the curfew from 9 AM to noon and later extended it to 3 PM, he said.
Meanwhile, police and civilian authorities continued dialogue with members of both the communities to bring normalcy in the town.
Meetings with both the communities were held and we hope to resolve the issue soon. Additional security personnel have been deployed in sensitive areas of the town to maintain peace and tranquility and patrolling in sensitive areas is on, the SSP said.
The religious heads have also appealed to the people to maintain calm and peace, he said.
Police as a precautionary measure had imposed curfew in the town on Thursday last after some unidentified persons pelted stones at a religious procession, prompting security personnel to lob tear gas shells to disperse them.
“We have already detained 13 persons in connection with the incident for questioning,” SSP said adding 3 more were detained for violation of curfew.
The stone-pelters were protesting against a recent remark of VHP international president Praveen Togadia, which they claimed had hurt the sentiments of a particular community.
Meanwhile, PDP and BJP legislators staged a walkout from the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly in protest against the curfew and alleged failure of the state government deal with the situation.
Earlier in the day, BJP members Jugal Kishore and Chamam Lal Gupta sought a reply from the government if it had taken any action on the directive of Speaker Mohmmad Akbar Lone, who had asked the government to send a team of ministers to facilitate peace in Rajouri.
However, the Speaker intervened and said police and district administration are holding dialogue between the two communities and there have been improvement in the situation.
The state government said the situation in Rajouri is now under control. Minister for Rural Development, Law, Justice, Panchayati Raj and Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Sagar said a case has been registered against Tagodia for making provocative and inflammatory comments. (KMW NEWS)
