Extremely peaceful and relaxed Eid, says Jammu and Kashmir official

india

Updated: Aug 12, 2019 19:51 IST

Dismissing reports of firing by security forces, a top official of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday evening said that the Eid celebrations in the valley were “extremely peaceful and relaxed”.

“There have been some reports in the media about firing by security agencies and deaths, the police carried out a detailed briefing and I would like to reiterate and categorically deny that any firing incident has happened in J&K,” said Rohit Kansal, J&K Principal Secy (Planning Commission) and the designated official spokesperson of the government.

The state has been under security lockdown since August 5 when the Central government moved to end special status of Jammu and Kashmir and divide the state into two union territories – J&K with a legislature and Ladakh without an assembly.

Kansal further said that the administration carried out a number of steps to ensure citizens were not inconvenienced.

“The District and Divisional Administration carried out a number of activities, including interacting with maulvis, people, organising mandis, and as a result we’ve had an extremely peaceful and relaxed Eid today,” said Kansal.

The mood was subdued with roads deserted across large swathes of the Valley, the silence broken only by police sirens and IAF helicopters hovering overhead, reported PTI.

Kansal added that more than 2.5 lakh sacrificial animals were arranged by the administration and mandis were set up in eight places to facilitate buying.

The police, however, said there were a couple of minor incidents.

“We just had a couple of minor localised incidents of law and order which was handled very professionally. In these incidents, there is only a couple of injury reported and otherwise situation in the entire valley is normal,” said Inspector General (IG) of Police, Kashmir, SP Pani.

On Sunday, Senior state administrative and police officials — divisional commissioner Baseer Khan, inspector general of police Swayam Prakash Pani and Srinagar’s district magistrate Shahid Choudhary — held a meeting with local clerics on Sunday to oversee prayer arrangements and ensure peaceful celebrations.

Unlike previous years, this was a lonely Eid for former state chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti wiht celebratory crowds nowhere to be seen, reported PTI quoting officials.