Curfew relaxed in Kishtwar

After eight days, curfew was relaxed in strife-torn Kishtwar in a phased manner on Saturday.

After eight days, curfew was relaxed in strife-torn Kishtwar in a phased manner on Saturday.

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"Curfew in select areas of Kishtwar town has been relaxed for an hour and a half from 1 pm in a phased manner," divisional commissioner Shantmanu said. "During the relaxation, no untoward incident was reported and situation remained peaceful," he said.

"There has been no report of any untoward incident from anywhere in the district in the past 24 hours. The situation is limping back to normal. In view of this, we decided to relax the curfew," Baseer Khan, district magistrate, Kishtwar, said.

Sources said there has been acute shortage of essential commodities due to the curfew for the past eight days. In Saturday's relaxation, heavy rush was witnessed at the shops in the town. Also, the efforts by the administration to hold talks with the minority community failed, as members of the community have shown unwillingness to hold talks.

Curfew was imposed in Kishtwar on August 9 after communal clashes, in which three people were killed and more than 20 injured.

On August 10, the authorities imposed curfew in Jammu and Rajouri after incidents of violence. The following day, it was imposed in Reasi, Udhampur, Samba, parts of Doda and Kathua. The curfew was lifted from seven districts on August 15 after situation improved.