Srinagar: Curfew was relaxed in Jammu district for three hours on Wednesday, District Magistrate Ramesh Kumar said as per an IANS report.
All educational institutes though would continue to remain shut and examinations scheduled for the day were postponed with new dates to be announced later, the authorities said, according to the report.
Protests took place on Saturday evening in the city’s Nai Basti, Bantalab, Domana and Parade ground areas, but were quickly brought under control.
The Indian Army has heightened security in Jammu city to maintain law and order.
The curfew was imposed on Friday after miscreants torched vehicles and damaged several others carrying number plates of the Kashmir Valley in protest against Thursday’s killing of 49 CRPF troopers in a suicide attack in Pulwama by a Jaish-e-Mohammad militant.
A number of quarters belonging to Kashmiris in the Janipur area of Jammu were attacked by frenzied mobs, despite imposition of curfew in the city on Saturday.
“The mobs entered inside the premises and attacked quarters of Kashmiris while police remained a mute spectator,” they said, according to GNS.
Secretariat Employees Union President Ghulam Rasool Mir had condemned the attack and urged the administration to ensure the safety of the people from Kashmir and those from the particular community.
The fresh attack came despite the fact that the administration had not relaxed curfew on Saturday too.
After the mob violence, Army was immediately called in to restore order in the city.
Curfew was imposed on Friday when a mob torched and damaged at least 30 vehicles belonging to local Muslims and Kashmiris. Curfew was initially imposed in some vulnerable areas, but was later extended to the entire city as tension mounted in the wake of violence against a particular section of the society.
The authorities met with important citizens belonging to different communities on Friday to seek their help in bringing the city back to normal.
The Joint Resistance Leadership had condemned the arson attacks in Jammu, saying it is the responsibility of the state administration to ensure safety of Kashmiris living there.
“Right from 1947 (when subcontinent was divided), communal forces active in Jammu leave no stone unturned to attack and intimidate Muslims and Kashmiri people,” they said.
Trouble erupted when a group of people belonging to various right wing organisations including Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena, and VHP took out a procession carrying tricolours through Gujjar Nagar, which is predominantly inhabited by Muslims.
Earlier, Omar Abdullah, Vice President of the National Conference had appealed Rajnath Singh take ‘special care of areas where Kashmiris as residing or studying.’
In a tweet, he had said that ‘they (Kashmiris) are soft targets in a surcharged atmosphere.’
