Clashes as Leh tension spreads to Kargil town

Communal tension brewing in Leh today spread to adjoining Kargil where the district authorities imposed curfew after violent confrontations ...

Communal tension brewing in Leh today spread to adjoining Kargil where the district authorities imposed curfew after violent confrontations left several people injured, including a senior official. A police officer’s residence was also set ablaze.

Tension erupted when a mob marching to the deputy commissioner’s office turned violent outside the official residence of a senior police officer who is from Leh. The building was torched, but nobody was present inside.

Following police intervention, which included tear gassing and cane charging, clashes broke out in which over a dozen civilians were injured. Additional deputy commissioner, Kachoo Mohammad Shah, and several policemen were also injured.

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Kargil locals called up newspaper offices here alleging that policemen broke into their homes, beat up family members and ransacked the premises. The locals said the policemen were inflamed by bulletins from the official media claiming that idols had been broken during the clashes; the Kargil residents say that nothing of the sort has happened.

As a precautionary measure, the district administration in Kargil has imposed curfew, said Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Basharat A Dhar. Defence spokesman Col V K Batra said that three additional columns of the Army had been deployed in Kargil to assist the civil administration in bringing the situation under control.

Meanwhile the situation was under control today in curfew-bound Leh town, where the civil administration sought the Army’s help yesterday to bring things back to normal.

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