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| Curfew in Poonch after mob, protesting act of disrespect to Quran in US, ransacks forest deptt, burns two Gypsies | | Police fire in air to disperse protesters; 10 held, 14 hurt in lathicharge | | BHARAT BHUSHAN
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Sept 13: Denouncing the act of disrespect to Islam and the Quran by an American church to remember the victims of 9/11, Muslims held protests across the region today, raising pro-Islam and anti-US slogans and burning the US flags.
While the protests were peaceful in Jammu, the situation turned violent in the border Poonch town which was tonight placed under indefinite curfew after an angry mob ransacked forest department, and set ablaze its official record and two Maruti Gypsies.
Though Obama Sunday said as Americans they were not and would never be at war with Islam because it was not a religion that attacked US on 9/11, but a sorry band of al Qaeda men which perverted religion, the protesters here refused to accept his this statement as true.
They said whatever happened in US was not just the decision of a church, but it was the decision of the president and the entire nation.
To protest the incident, a group of Muslims gathered in Islamia school at Poonch at about 2 pm and decided to hold an anti-US demonstration.
Over 300 of them gathered at City Chowk and chanted "Long live Islam" and "Death to Obama" as mark of their protest, which led to the immediate closure of the main Poonch market. Shopkeepers of both the communities downed their shutters to avoid any untoward incident.
Raising pro-Islam slogans when they moved towards a nearby church and a Christ school on the Idgah road, cops, deployed there for the safety of the two christian structures, asked them to move back.
However, when they defied the orders, the cops opened several rounds of fire in the air.
Eyewitnesses said 300 odd bullets were fired by the cops to scare away the mob.
They said though the protesters retreated, they hurled stones on the cops, who retaliated by firing scores of teargas shells on them.
A group of protesters then entered the forest office which fell on their way and ransacked it badly.
The eyewitnesses said after damaging furniture and other items in the office and the adjoining forest control room, they took out files and other official record.
They dumped these files in the two Gypsies parked inside the office complex and then set them afire.
Official sources said while one of the burnt vehicles belonged to an assistant conservator of forests, the other belonged to a range officer.
Cops then resorted to lathicharge, resulting in injuries to at least 14 of them. Ten of them were taken into custody and whisked away to the police station. The injured were hospitalised.
Though the protesters dispersed after the police action and melted into the nearby lanes and bylanes, they regrouped at the main Poonch chowk after few minutes, this time demanding the release of the apprehended youth.
Sources said police freed them after the protesters promised to return homes peacefully.
However, after the youth were released, people again started throwing stones on the cops, who, however, chased them away. The ding-dong battles between the two sides continued up to about 8 pm after which the protesters returned homes.
Some Muslim leaders late this evening gave a call for 3-day Poonch bandh. They said the call would be extended further if the cops, who hurled lathies on their "peaceful" procession, were not transferred.
They claimed that the police action was unprovoked as they had no intention to attack the christian buildings.
Police had, however, stepped up vigil in and around Poonch in view of the bandh call given by the majority community. Any community member, who would try to come from the rural areas to Poonch town tomorrow, would be detained, the sources added.
However, as a preventive measure, the district administration tonight decided to place Poonch district under curfew.
"We have clamped curfew in Poonch district for an indefinite period," SSP, Poonch, Manmohan Singh said.
Anti-US protests were also held in the Mandi and Surankote areas of Poonch, besides Rajouri.
In Jammu, protests were held on Residency Road, outside a mosque at CPO chowk and in the localities of Gujjar Nagar, Talab Khatikan, New Plots and Sidhra.
At CPO chowk, Muslims, including women and children, demonstrated for about an hour, or so and then moved in the form of a procession which ended in the lanes of nearby Ustad Mohalla.
From Gujjar Nagar, Muslims came to Talab Khatikan in the form of a procession and held a demonstration outside Jamia Masjid.
The protests in Jammu were peaceful barring an incident at New Plots in which some miscreants assaulted one Irfan Khan, son of Jehangir Khan of Janipura, resulting in injuries to him.
All Jammu Muslim Coordination Committee tonight gave a call for Jammu bandh on Friday.
Anti-US protests were also held at Bhaderwah, Kishtwar, Ramban and Batote. In these areas, Muslim organizations gave a call of bandh for tomorrow.
Meanwhile, IGP Ashok Gupta convened a meeting of prominent Muslims at PCR here tonight and appealed to them to ensure that "no violence takes place during protests by their community members". |
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