Rajouri, Sep 9: The district authorities on Friday clamped strict restrictions under CrPC 144 in Rajouri town amid apprehensions of law and order problem following a dispute between two communities over a piece of land, triggering a protest call by some Muslim organisations.
However, as the situation remained peaceful throughout the day, the Deputy Commissioner Rajouri Vikas Kundal stated that there would be no restrictions in Rajouri town on Saturday.
Officials said that a dispute had erupted over a piece of land located near 36 Gali in Rajouri town amid conflicting claims by two communities. “The people from Muslim community claim that the land is the property of Auqaf Islamia, belonging to a mosque and they intend to construct a new mosque at the site. But the people from the other community living in the vicinity of this site are objecting to it,” they said.
The tension engulfed the town on Thursday following a dispute after which a heavy deployment of police and paramilitary forces was made. A route march by the forces was also taken out in the main town late Thursday evening.
This morning, the authorities imposed strict restrictions under CrPC 144. The District Magistrate issued an order in this regard mentioning apprehensions of a law and order problem.
“The inputs have been received from police authorities that there is apprehension of disturbance of peace and tranquility in Rajouri town. It is prudent to take precautionary measures to avoid any law and order situation due to which restrictions are imposed under CrPC 144, barring assembly of four or more people at one place in Rajouri town on Friday i.e., September 9 till further orders,” read the order issued by DM.
The District Magistrate Rajouri also asked the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) to ensure implementation of the order in letter and spirit.
Officials said that police vehicles, mounted with Public Address Systems (PAS), were pressed into service in Rajouri town at around 5:00 am this morning informing people about imposition of restrictions and allowing only essential movement.
They said that due to restrictions, all the business establishments in the town remained shut and there was very less movement of vehicles on the road.
The number of people, who assembled to offer Friday prayers in the mosques, too was less.
An official told Greater Kashmir that the situation remained completely peaceful in the district with no untoward incident reported from anywhere.
“The restrictions were completely precautionary in nature just to ensure that law and order remains properly maintained,” the official added.
NO RESTRICTIONS TODAY
Meanwhile, after monitoring the situation, the authorities decided that there would be no restrictions on Saturday.
Deputy Commissioner Rajouri Vikas Kundal told Greater Kashmir that the situation on Friday remained completely peaceful in the town.
He said, “Keeping in view the present situation, the decision to lift the restrictions, imposed on Friday morning, has been taken and an announcement is also being made in this regard.”
“There will be no restrictions in Rajouri town on Saturday and things will go on normally,” the Deputy Commissioner said.
During the day, the authorities had ordered restrictions on high speed mobile internet services also in the district. However, services were being restored to normal when last reports were received.
Officials said that as a part of precautionary measures to avoid spread of rumours, the authorities had asked the telecom operators to reduce the high speed mobile internet services this morning.
“This was just a precautionary step to avoid rumour mongering as it has been seen in the past that people take advantage of mobile internet services to spread rumours,” the officials said.
They further said that as the situation remained completely peaceful, the decision was taken to restore high speed mobile internet services. “These will get restored by late Friday evening,” they added.
Earlier in the day, the people in Rajouri town were taken by surprise on Friday as the sounds of police sirens with announcement of imposition of strict restrictions under CrPC 144 in the town woke them up.
Many people told Greater Kashmir that they were not aware about this sensitive issue and things were going on as normal for them till the police sirens on Friday morning woke them up.
“I was in deep slumber with no knowledge of this issue so the announcement of restrictions took everyone in the family by surprise,” Rahul Sharma said.