Bandipora, June 20: Life returned to normal in this North Kashmir town after four days of consecutive shutdown against alleged desecration of the holy Quran. All the shops, business establishments and offices reopened on Wednesday morning while the vehicular traffic also resumed, bringing situation back to normalcy in the area.
The district administration played a key role to restore peace in town by holding series of meetings with prominent citizens, religious scholars and traders who were made aware about the reality of the incident and were later pacified by District Development Commissioner Manzoor Ahmed Lone.
DDC continuously interacted with representatives of various communities which helped him to defuse tension in the town.
Officials also approached the youth, religious scholars, parents, students and traders, seeking their cooperation to maintain peace and harmony.
Tension had gripped Bandipora town on Saturday when reports came in about alleged desecration of Quran by some miscreants in Haskalan area near Peer Baba on Gurez-Bandipora road.
A case was registered by police against unknown persons and around 10 Beacon laborers were detained for questioning regarding the incident.
Immediately after the news spread in the area people came out on roads and staged massive protests. Police reacted by imposing restrictions on the movement of people.
Gurez valley near the Line of Control had also observed a shutdown and witnessed demonstrations against the alleged desecration.
Tuesday evening District Development Commissioner Manzoor Ahmed Lone accompanied by Superintendent of Police Bashir Ahmed Khan undertook a tour of the town and adjoining villages and held interaction with the locals, appealing them to maintain peace.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 20 Jun 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 20 Jun 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 21 Jun 2012 00:00:00 IST