Curfew lifted from seven Jammu districts

Curfew was Thursday lifted from seven districts of Jammu region but continued for the seventh day in the hilly Kishtwar district, officials said.

After the Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry withdrew its shutdown call when the government agreed to its demand for higher compensation for the victims of communal violence in Kishtwar, a high-level meeting reviewed the law and order situation in Jammu late Wednesday.

It was decided that as the situation was fast returning to normal, there would be no curfew in Jammu city and six other districts of the province Thursday.

"Curfew, however, continues in Kishtwar where the situation is being reviewed on an hourly basis. A final call on relaxation of curfew in Kishtwar would be taken today (Thursday) afternoon," a senior administrative officer told IANS.

Kishtwar district magistrate Basheer Ahmad Khan told reporters there had been no untoward incident anywhere since Wednesday.

Agriculture Minister Ghulam Hassan Mir was scheduled to head the Independence Day celebrations in Kishtwar town.

Officials have invited prominent citizens from both communities to hoist the tricolour in the town as part of confidence building measures and expression of communal harmony.