This Article is From Jul 30, 2014

Curfew to be Relaxed for Five Hours in Riot-Hit Saharanpur

Curfew to be Relaxed for Five Hours in Riot-Hit Saharanpur

In the clashes that killed three people, 165 shops and handcarts as well as 42 vehicles were also set ablaze.

Saharanpur: Curfew in the riot-hit town of Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh will be relaxed for five hours today from 8:30 am to 1:30 pm in the new city, and from 2 pm to 7 pm in old city areas. Three people were killed and 24 injured in clashes during the weekend in the Uttar Pradesh town.

Here are the latest developments

  1. Saharanpur celebrated a somewhat muted Eid within the few hours curfew was relaxed in the town on Tuesday. People wearing arm bands and holding up banners for peace were seen making their way to mosques for prayers.

  2. Despite a quiet Eid, district officials point out that there has been no violent episode over the last 48 hours, indicating that the situation in the town is steadily returning to normal.

  3. Curfew has been clamped along a highway that divides the new and old part of the city and people are not allowed to cross from one side to another, the administration said.  

  4. On one side of the highway lies the old city, a predominantly Muslim area. On the other side is the newer city with a sizeable Sikh population. The clashes broke out early on Saturday morning over a small plot of land next to a gurudwara that members of the Sikh community began construction on. Local Muslims claim that land belongs to a mosque.

  5. In the clashes that killed three people, 165 shops and handcarts as well as 42 vehicles were also set ablaze.

  6. Police jeeps roam the streets, their sirens blaring, while paramilitary troops patrol the highway that separates the area from the new part of the town.

  7. Schools are expected to reopen today if the situation is calm. No incident of violence has been reported overnight.

  8. 66 people have been arrested and nine first information reports or FIRs have been registered at various police stations, among them one against Moharram Ali Pappu, a former corporation councilor. He has been charged with rioting, arson and conspiracy.

  9. Political parties are squabbling in a blame game. Raghav Lakhan Pal, the BJP MP from Saharanpur, has accused a local Congress leader Imran Masood of provoking and instigating crowds. Mr Masood said he had in fact tried his utmost to calm rioting mobs and has accused Mr Pal of "spreading politics of hate."

  10. By-elections will be held for the Saharanpur Assembly seat next month along with that for the Moradabad seat and 12 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. The BJP had won 11 and the Samajwadi Party had won one of those 12 in general elections held in May.





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