SRINAGAR: Tension gripped a remote Gujjar locality in Kathua on Sunday when the residents clashed with the police party that was searching the belt. The locality is very close to the international border.
Police have arrested at least one person in the incident so far.
Reports appearing in the media said that the resident Gujjar community resorted to stone pelting and used sticks on a police party accusing it of harassment. The incident took place in the Maggar Khad area. One cop identified as Kuldeep Kumar was reportedly injured in the incident on Sunday.
Police, reports said, fired in the air to rescue its members. Later, Gujjars sat in a protest accusing the police of harassment. Police said they were searching the area ahead of Independence Day.
A spokesperson for the police had stated that a team from the Lakhanpur police station, along with SOG, headed by DSP (Operation), Kathua, Tilak Raj Bhardwaj and Lakhanpur SHO Vijay Kotwal were conducting searches in the Maggar Khad area. “During the search around 6.30 am, a few persons, led by Mohammad Sharif and Shadu, attacked the police team with sticks, sharp weapons and also pelted them with stones in a bid to kill them,” the spokesperson said. “To disperse the mob, the police fired some warning shots into the air in self-defence. The police arrested Mohammad Sharif. A case has been registered under Sections 307, 353, 332, 147 and 149 of the IPC and 4 and 25 of the Arms Act at Lakhanpur.”
Interestingly, however, another report that appeared in another section of the media attributed the attacks by the cattle smugglers of Check Gotta.
(Photograph used in the report is merely representational as it was clicked in Kathua some years back.)
