City remained shut on the call of traders and lawyers to mourn Pulwama killings.
Even as curfew continued to remain in force for the second day on Saturday, Army staged another flag march in Jammu after some people assaulted some people who originally hail from Kashmir region and are staying in the government quarters in Janipur area there.
According to the employees, angry protesters entered their quarters despite curfew and security cover to these government accommodations. The employees have alleged that the police did not act even as the protesters thrashed them.
However, a senior police officer told The Sunday Guardian that they acted fast as soon as they got complaints from the employees. He said that they enforced the curfew after assault on some people was reported.
Reports also said that violent mobs attacked the families of a particular community in Gujjar Nagar and other adjacent areas of Jammu on Friday even as the city remained shut on the call of the Jammu Chamber of Commerce and the Jammu Bar Association to mourn the killing of CRPF jawans in Pulwama on Thursday.
Latest reports say that despite the curfew and heavy police deployment, mob attacks continued at several places in Gujjar Nagar, Shaheedi Chowk, Janipur, Rehari, Purani Mandi, New Plot and Prem Nagar area in Jammu on Saturday.
Governor Satya Pal Malik as well as all the political parties have appealed to the people to maintain calm in Jammu region amid reports of dozens of vehicles being torched and scores of other vehicles being damaged by angry mobs on Friday.
Authorities have already suspended internet services in both the regions of Jammu and Kashmir while all the examinations slated for Saturday have been postponed because of the curfew. After reports of many drivers from Kashmir region being thrashed and attacked with sharp-edged weapons in Jammu, there have been widespread protests at different places in the Valley, especially in Srinagar and Anantnag districts, on Saturday.
The Kashmir Trader’ Association has alleged that the properties of a particular community, especially from Kashmir region, are being vandalised in Jammu region. Denouncing the violence during their mourning strike in the city, the Jammu Chamber of Commerce has said that it is shameful on the part of a few people to give a bad name to all the people of Jammu.
Secretariat Employees’ Union president Ghulam Rasool Mir told this newspaper on phone that mobs attacked the families of employees working in the Secretariat there on Friday. He alleged that several employees were thrashed in police presence. Mir told the media on Saturday that they would take out a march to the Secretariat on Monday in protest against the continued attacks on them. The traders’ association has also given a call for observing bandh on Sunday against the attacks.