Jat quota stir continues on low-key note

Jat leaders owing allegiance to All-India Jat Aarakshan Sangarsh Samiti (AIJASS), held dharnas at various places in the state for the second day today but on a low-key note and drawing lukewarm response.
No untoward incident was reported from any part of state today, officials said.
Jat leaders held dharnas at Rohtak, Hisar, Jind and Sonipat districts today.
But like yesterday, in many districts, no protests were held by Jat community members today as well.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal has expressed satisfaction over the peaceful protest by the Jat community members, saying that the state government had appealed to them for the same.

Talking to reporters in Panchkula today on the sidelines of a function, Khattar thanked the people of the state and urged them to maintain peace.

Nearly 20,000 security personnel from central and state forces are keeping a close vigil across the state, including on national highways and railway tracks which the protesters had blocked for several days in February.
Fifty-five companies of paramilitary personnel drawn from CRPF, ITBP and BSF have been deployed in sensitive districts in the state, Haryana's Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Ram Niwas said.
Jat leaders in Jassia village of Rohtak district, the epicentre of violence during the stir, held a dharna as part of the second round of the agitation which started on a tepid note yesterday with influential Khap panchayats and some Jat factions distancing themselves from the protests.

Haryana's Sarv Khap Jat Panchayat, which had been at the forefront demanding reservations for Jats in government jobs when the stir was held in February, has this time decided to wait and watch for the outcome of the case before the courts.
"This time we decided that it is not right time to hold dharnas. We talked to government, we gave them time. The case is already before the High Court. We should not unnecessarily raise suspicion on the intent of the Government, which has assured us that even though the reservation Bill has been challenged, but it will put in its best legal efforts to defend the same," Sube Singh Samain, spokesperson of the Sarv Khap Jat Panchayat, told reporters in Rohtak.

Sube Singh Samain, spokesperson of the Sarv
Khap Jat Panchayat also hit out at the Yashpal Malik led AIJASS, saying people in Jassia village in Rohtak and elsewhere were turning out for dharnas not because of his call.
"People of Jassia village and elsewhere have their pain which they have gone through during the February stir. These people are also protesting booking of many of their relatives, mostly youths, who have been booked on various charges during the February stir. These people believe many of these youths are innocent. They are not there for Yashpal Malik, they have not come out (for dharnas) because of Malik," Samain said.

The Jat protesters are demanding quota under OBC category, withdrawal of cases registered against community members during the previous stir, status of martyrs for those killed and jobs for their next of kin, besides compensation for the injured.
After the Jat agitation, which paralysed normal life in Haryana and affected Delhi and other neighbouring states too, the state government recently brought in laws to provide reservation for Jats and five other communities under a newly carved Backward Classes (C) category.
However, the High Court stayed it, acting on a public interest litigation, after which some Jat groups announced the fresh stir.

Meanwhile, prohibitory orders under Section 144 remained in force at sensitive places in eight districts as the administration was geared up to ensure that there is no repeat of earlier incidents when 30 people were killed, property worth hundreds of crores of rupees destroyed and key routes blocked by agitators.
A special round-the-clock control room has been set up in Chandigarh to monitor the situation.
The police and administration are keeping a close watch on miscreants trying to use the social media to spread rumours.
Sonipat District Magistrate K Makarand Pandurang has issued orders banning all mobile internet services. The ban would be effective till further orders, an official release said.

In the wake of severe criticism for failing to check violence during the Jat quota agitation in February this year, the Khattar Government had set up Prakash Singh Committee whose inqury report had indicted 90 officials for "deliberate negligence" during the stir.
The panel, in its 451-page report, had said that "administrative paralysis" had gripped the state and the "highest functionaries in the government failed to show the kind of guidance, direction and control that is expected in a crisis of such proportions".