60 injured in Kishtwar Eid clashes

Both sides pelted each other and the police with stones. In the evening,a doctor reportedly fired from inside his house near Amar Market,injuring over a half dozen people. According to people who said they were on the scene,the gunfire came after a mob tried to set the house on fire.

Three seriously injured people were brought to Government Medical College Hospital in Jammu. The rest were being treated in Kishtwar,sources said. Several policemen were injured; among them was DSP (Headquarters) Farooq Ahmed Kesar. The communal violence on a day of piety and celebration sent shock waves across the state,with nearby towns like Doda shutting down spontaneously. In Jammu,the BJP,Shiv Sena and several Hindu organisations called for a bandh in protest against the violence on Saturday.

No official version of the incidents was available,but local sources said trouble began after an incident of stone-throwing at Kuleed Chowk near Parade Ground where a large number of people had gathered in the morning to offer Eid namaaz.

Members of each community accused the other of stone-pelting and raising provocative slogans. The argument quickly escalated and more stones flew,and four Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) vehicles and some tankers were set on fire.

Soon afterward,clashes broke out at other places in the town. A mob comprising members of one community set ablaze over two dozen shops at Malik Market; members of the other community burnt a roughly equal number of shops at Amar market near Jamia Masjid.

A country liquor vend at Bus Stand,nearly a dozen shops at Hospital Chowk and the office of the Chief Education Officer too went up in flames,sources said. Nearly a hundred buildings were gutted,the sources said,including a dozen residential structures belonging to both communities,and a couple of hotels. Police opened fire and lobbed teargas shells,but were unable to gain control over the situation for several hours.

J&K Minister of State for Home Sajjad Ahmed Kitchloo,who belongs to Kishtwar,was in the town for Eid,but was unable to step out of the Dak Bungalow. A mob tried to gherao the building and some stones were thrown,but the protesters were beaten back by a strong police contingent. Kishtwar deputy commissioner Mohammad Saleem Choudhary was pushed around by the mob. Army troops were subsequently stationed near the Dak Bungalow.

Chief Secretary Iqbal Khandey and Director General of Police Ashok Prasad were in Kishtwar. Jammu divisional commissioner Shantmanu described the situation in the town as being tense,but under control.

Authorities were concerned about the fact that sizeable numbers of people of both communities in Kishtwar have licensed weapons. Police were reported to have decided to withdraw weapons that the state government had given to members of village defence committees in the area when militancy was at its peak.