Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal/Panipat/Sonepat, February 23

The movement of traffic on National Highway-1 has been restored and this indicates things are slowly getting back to normal after Jats went on the rampage, setting almost everything on fire.But an uneasy calm prevails on the highway. Burnt vehicles, axed trees, and scattered bricks and stones on the NH-1 present a picture of devastation.To know the aftereffects of the protest, a team of The Tribune visited the GT Road from Karnal to Sonepat and found people were still in shock.To develop confidence among residents, Army and police are patrolling the NH-1. Besides, scores of Army personnel are deployed at several places to keep a vigil on miscreants.The appeals by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Union Minister Rajnath Singh and other Cabinet Ministers of the state notwithstanding, protesters seeking Jat reservation had blocked NH-1 on Sunday and Monday and reportedly set several vehicles ablaze, besides pelting stones on commuters travelling towards Delhi or Chandigarh. Scores of charred vehicles, including trucks, Roadways buses and vehicles of police and other officials, were parked near Bari and Murthal on NH-1.A plastic-waste-laden truck of Shameem Ahmed Toirt of Sopore, Jammu and Kashmir, was burnt when he was on his way to Delhi. “The police in Panipat signaled to me that the road to Delhi was clear. But when I reached near Murthal, the protesters attacked my truck and set it to fire. I am still traumatised,” he said.Toirt, along with his driver and an attendant, managed to save their lives. They are stranded in Murthal.Amrik Singh, the owner of Amrik Sukhdev Dhaba in Murthal, said he and his employees faced a horrific time for two days. “Protesters wanted to vandalise my dhaba on Sunday afternoon and again in the wee hours of Monday. But Kurad and Hasanpur villagers shielded my dhaba was saved. I am thankful to them,” said Singh with his voice wavering with emotion.“I still have nightmare of the incident. Thanks to the people living nearby, the dhaba was saved,” said Abhijeet Anand, manager of Amrik Sukhdev Dhaba.Ram Narayan of Bahadurgarh, who was carrying his tanker to Delhi from Ludhiana, said protesters attacked him around 3am on Monday near Hasanpur village. He managed to escape and took refuge in a dhaba. “The Jat agitation refreshed the horrific memory of 1984 anti-Sikh riots,” he said.People, meanwhile, lauded the efforts of Army and said the police had failed to take action against miscreants who destroyed properties built with hard-earned money of people.Subhash Chand of Kurad village gave shelter to a Faridabad family in his home. The government should take acted earlier to control the situation.

Sensitive areas of Hisar under curfew

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, February 23

Apprehending caste violence after the body of a youth was recovered today, the Army and the administration tightened the security measures in Hisar and Hansi towns and some villages of the district. Meanwhile, curfew was clamped for indefinite period in the sensitive areas of the district.The body of 24-year-old Mintu of Lalpura village near Hansi was recovered from the fields of Dhani Pal village. The post mortem revealed that he had been shot twice. The deceased’s family refused to take the body for cremation, alleging negligence of the police in the murder.The family alleged that Mintu had gone to meet his relatives in Dhani Pal village when a group from the Jat-dominated Sisay village attacked them yesterday. The attackers opened fire and also burnt some houses before the Army intervened and brought the situation under control. Mintu’s relative Krishan also suffered bullet injury and was admitted to hospital, but Mintu went missing and his body was recovered today.The Jat agitation had led to enmity between the Jats and people of other communities.Meanwhile, troops remained deployed in Hansi and Sisay, Sainipur and Dhani Pal villages. The situation also turned tense in some parts of Hisar town. The security was tightened and the police and the Army personnel warned the people against venturing out of their houses. The Army also carried out a flag march in the area.The police had registered eight FIRs against the attackers and identified some of them.Deputy Commissioner Chander Shekhar Khare announced the closure of educational institutions in the district till February 25.Senior Superintendent of Police Ashwin Shenvi said the situation was under control and no fresh incident of violence had occurred today.