Curfew imposed in Jammu & Poonch:  HM Rajnath Singh appeals for communal harmony  

Jammu Bandh on Friday turned violent with protesters setting more than 50 private vehicles on fire in the heart of the city. While the security personnel stood as mute spectators, videos showed protesters damaging shops, vehicles and property of a certain community.

The bandh, called by almost all political parties and trade bodies in protest against the terror attack on a CRPF convoy, in which 44 CRPF jawans lost their lives, turned violent in Poonch district as well, prompting authorities to impose curfew in parts of Jammu and Poonch.

The communal backlash was seen in and around Muslim majority areas like Khatin Ka Talab, Narwal, Gujjar Nagar, Chenni Heemat and the Bus Stand besides other prominent places in the city. The protesters burned tyres and shouted inflammatory slogans such as “Allah-Ullah kehn ni dena, ek bhi Sulla rehn ni dena”. (We will not let anyone recite Allah’s name. We will not let any Muslim stay here anymore).”

They also chanted anti-Pakistan, anti-terrorist slogans and blocked all major roads asking for avenging the death of CRPF jawans, demanding Army rule in Kashmir.

Eyewitnesses told National Herald that protesters were given a free hand while armed contingents of the police and Army stood as mute spectators. The protesters also threw stones at police and the residential houses and shops of a particular community.

There are also reports of protesting youth thrashing some Kashmiri people in certain places and asking them to leave Jammu at the earliest. According to local residents, fear psychosis has gripped members of the minority community especially government employees from Srinagar who moved to Jammu with the Durbar moving here in winter.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti on Friday, February 15, appealed to political leaders and civil society to ensure that communal violence is prevented in Jammu in the aftermath of the Pulwama terrorist attack.

Jammu and Kashmir is under President’s Rule since December. The state plunged into a political crisis in June last year after People’s Democratic Party-led government was reduced to minority following withdrawal of support by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Since Jammu and Kashmir has a separate constitution, six months of Governor’s rule was imposed on the state before bringing it under the President’s rule.

“The High Court and subordinate courts stopped work as a mark of respect to the CRPF jawans killed in the Pulwama attack and to express our solidarity and sympathy with the bereaved families,” J&K High Court Bar Association Jammu President, BS Slathia said.

Inspector General of Police Jammu range, MK Sinha appealed to the people to not get provoked by anti-national elements who wanted to disturb the society. “Don’t play into the hands of anti-national elements. They want to disturb our societal harmony. Defeat their designs. Don’t get provoked. Maintain calm.”

As the city reels under curfew, the Army has been called in to help maintain law and order and conduct flag marches, an official informed..

Violence also erupted in Poonch district, where too shops and vehicles belonging to a particular community were attacked in Aala Peer area, forcing police to use tear gas and batons.

Meanwhile, Kashmir based Awami Ittehad Party chief and former MLA Engineer Rashid expressed “anger and anguish over hooliganism by miscreants of various right-wing organizations at various places in Jammu city.”

“Nobody is celebrating killing of CRPF men in Pulwama attack and no one other than Kashmiris can feel the pain of bereaved families better than them, as we have been passing through this turmoil for the last thirty years,” he said, adding that “However, nothing lies in hands of Kashmiris and neither their words nor condemnation mean anything to those who matter and who can bring peace in the entire region including Jammu and Kashmir.”