Authorities relax curfew hours in parts of Jammu; urge people to maintain peace

Jammu, February 18

Jammu administration has announced it would relax curfew timings four days after restrictions were imposed following violent clashes in the city.

District Magistrate Ramesh Kumar said: “People have responded to the curfew peacefully, and so we’ve decided to ease it out in a phased manner.”

Restrictions were eased under police stations of Gandhi Nagar (except police post Nehru Park and Digiana), Channi Himmat, Sainik Colony, Trikuta Nagar and Satwari (except police posts of Belicharana and Gadighat) between 2.00 pm and 5.00 pm on Monday.

Public gatherings however are still prohibited.

Restrictions remained in place in Nehru Park, Digiana, Belicharana and Gadighat.  

Official identity cards of the civil secretariat employees and the staff deployed with essential services would be treated as curfew passes to facilitate their movement in other curfew-bound areas, the official said. In addition, he said, air tickets, railway tickets and admit cards for various examinations would also be treated as curfew passes.

The curfew remained in force in the city for the fourth consecutive day to maintain law and order.

All examinations scheduled for the day were postponed as educational institutions across Jammu city remained closed.

 Over 150 people were taken into preventive custody over the past couple of days to ensure peace, officials said.

 Earlier, Kumar said the situation was "well under control" and there was no report of any untoward incident from anywhere in the curfew-bound areas since Sunday.

 Police, paramilitary forces and Army soldiers stand deployed and are strictly enforcing the curfew, he said.

 The Army has deployed 18 internal security columns of the Tiger Division along with air support from the White Knight Corps in the city, including Gujjar Nagar, Janipur, Shahidi Chowk, Talab Khatika, Sidhra and other sensitive areas.

 While nine columns were deployed on Friday after a requisition by the administration to bring the situation under control, nine more columns were deployed on Saturday.

 "Helicopters and UAVs of the Army were also put into operation to monitor the situation. The proactive approach jointly taken by the J&K police, civil administration (divisional commissioner and district collector's office) and the Indian Army has ensured the situation is in control," a defence spokesman had said.

 Mobile internet services continued to remain suspended as a precautionary measure to check spread of rumours but the BSNL broadband services are functioning normally.

 The officials said all government-run and private schools of the Jammu province remained closed while examinations for Classes 8 and 9 and practical exams of Class 12, scheduled for the day, stand postponed.

 A Jammu university spokesman said the teaching work in the varsity remained suspended in view of the prevailing situation and all examinations, both theory and practical, have been postponed.

 The SKUAST-Jammu also postponed all internal examinations scheduled for the day, the officials said, adding that fresh dates for the exams will be notified later. PTI