Barring Sopore and Pulwama, curfew relaxation continued in the Kashmir Valley today to allow people to offer special prayers on the occasion of a Muslim festival as police cracked down on stone pelters and arrested 20 people allegedly responsible for instigating mobs.
The four-day-old curfew was relaxed in the entire valley last night after a high-level meeting presided over by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to enable people offer special prayers overnight at the Hazratbal shrine for Shab-e-Mehraj, an important occasion on the religious calendar here.
Some protestors came out in the streets in Qamarwari, Naaz cinema, Nowhatta and Maisuma of the city this morning in but were chased away by the police. Restrictions were imposed in Maisuma after the protests.
People continued to throng the Hazratbal Shrine today to have a glimpse of a Holy Relic of Prophet Mohammed which is shown to people after every prayer after Shab-e-Mehraj (night of ascent). Nearly 4,000 people had gathered during the first prayer at the break of the dawn.
Shops and business establishments were open and traffic was plying normally in the city. However, in Pulwama district of South Kashmir, curfew had to be imposed after a media report that one person had died in police firing, which was denied by authorities.
People started coming out on the streets despite administration announcing that the news was not correct. Before things could go out of hands, the authorities decided to impose curfew.
Kakapora area of Pulwama district had witnessed pitched battle between mobs and security personnel last evening which resulted in injuries to 16 security personnel and five civilians.
