Kishtwar a tinderbox, region under curfew after clashes - Indian Express

Maneesh Chhibber , Arun Sharma : Batote, Jammu, Sun Aug 11 2013, 03:13 hrs A day after rioting in communally-sensitive Kishtwar left two dead and several injured, arson and communal tension spread to Jammu and Rajouri districts of Jammu and Kashmir. Late Saturday, curfew was imposed in both districts. While curfew-bound Kishtwar town remained tense but largely calm, what kept the administration on tenterhooks was the possession of weapons by both communities in the area, with 45 being stolen from a shop in the town on Friday. Most village defence committees around Kishtwar town have authorised weapons. These include .303 rifles while those looted on Friday were only 12 bores. On the ground, Kishtwar remained peaceful, with all access roads to it blocked. While Kishtwar is a Muslim-majority town, Hindus dominate the neighbouring villages. Government sources admitted there is fear that clashes may erupt in some of the nearby areas where the numerical strength of the two communities is almost equal. "These towns are now the trouble spots," a senior officer said. The Centre is also keeping a close watch on the situation. Across the state, people from both communities held protests. Sixteen people were injured in clashes, six of them in Paddar in Kishtwar district. Jammu region saw total bandh, with the BJP and other organisations extending the strike till Monday. Trouble spread to Rajouri following pelting of stones by some miscreants at a local mosque. Though Hindus of the area came out in support of Muslims against the miscreants, people in large numbers started emerging from their houses, prompting the apprehensive administration to impose a curfew. Police resorted to lathicharge and lobbed teargas shells to disperse some stone-pelting youths. Later Saturday, following stray violence in Jammu district, curfew was also extended there. Reports of people holding demonstrations were also received from Kathua, Samba, Vijaypur, Sunderbani, Nowshera, besides all the towns along the Jammu-Srinagar national highway and Batote-Doda-Kishtwar highway. The state government stopped traffic along the national highway from Lakhanpur to Banihal and towards Doda and Kishtwar in a bid to quell protests. ... contd. ALSO READ Family awaits return of man who killed 5 daughters Reactor on India's 1st nuclear missile submarine goes critical For dons' descendant, a film disappoints Dawood Ibrahim was here but we chased him out, may be in UAE now: Shahryar Khan Please read our terms of use before posting comments TERMS OF USE: The views, opinions and comments posted are your, and are not endorsed by this website. You shall be solely responsible for the comment posted here. The website reserves the right to delete, reject, or otherwise remove any views, opinions and comments posted or part thereof. You shall ensure that the comment is not inflammatory, abusive, derogatory, defamatory &/or obscene, or contain pornographic matter and/or does not constitute hate mail, or violate privacy of any person (s) or breach confidentiality or otherwise is illegal, immoral or contrary to public policy. Nor should it contain anything infringing copyright &/or intellectual property rights of any person(s). via Top Stories - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNEzu72huSGEeNNrRu7SoEY9hBEdqA&url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/kishtwar-a-tinderbox-region-under-curfew-after-clashes/1153860/

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