Curfew relaxed for 2 hours in Jammu’s old city on Tuesday
The curfew was imposed as stone pelting and arson was reported from areas, including Gujjar Nagar, during a massive anti-Pakistan protest against the killings of 40 CRPF soldier in Pulwama last week.
The district administration relaxed curfew for two hours in some areas of Jammu’s old city on Tuesday following an improvement in the situation after Friday’s violence in some Muslim-dominated pockets after a protest over the Pulwama attack.
The curfew was imposed as stone pelting and arson was reported from areas, including Gujjar Nagar, during a massive anti-Pakistan protest against the killings of 40 CRPF soldier in Pulwama last week. A 22-year-old suicide bomber rammed his vehicles packed with explosives on February 14 in the worst attack in Jammu and Kashmir in decades.
“We have relaxed the curfew in old city areas for a couple of hours from 11.30am to 1.30pm on Tuesday. The areas fall in the old city like Pir Mitha and those falling under the jurisdiction of Nowabad police station,” Jammu’s deputy commissioner Ramesh Kumar said.
“At 1.30pm, we will be reviewing the situation again,” he said.
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Internal security columns of the Indian Army, which were deployed in the curfew-bound areas, remain deployed along with police and paramilitary forces on the streets of the city.
Kumar said that the three-hour relaxation period in Jammu south on Monday passed off peacefully and there were no reports of law and order problem from the area.
However, security forces will remain deployed to keep an eye on the situation, he added.
Around 150 people have already been detained under preventive custody to maintain law and order. “Also a Kashmiri couple was detained for instigating the public,” Jammu region inspector general MK Sinha had said.
The city is being also monitored through army helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The army helicopters hovered over the city on Tuesday as well to monitor the situation.
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The curfew has caused inconvenience to those travelling, including pilgrims to the Mata Vaishno Devi hill shrine, to the city. They were seen travelling on foot towards the railway station, airport and the bus stand in the city.
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