Eid celebrated amid curbs in J&K

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Monday said Eid-al-Azha festivities passed off peacefully in the state, barring a few minor incidents, and there was no firing anywhere in the Valley.

Inspector General of Police (Kashmir) SP Pani also said the Jammu and Kashmir administration was committed to maintain peace and order and the state police worked in this direction.

"The Eid namaz was offered in different mosques and after the prayers, the congregations dispersed peacefully. There have been a couple of minor localised incidents of law and order which have been handled very professionally.

"In these incidents, there have been a couple of injuries which have been reported. Otherwise the entire Valley situation is peaceful. I strongly deny any incident of firing anywhere in the Kashmir Valley," he told a press conference here.

Meanwhile, the Union Home Ministry said over 10,000 people offered prayers in mosques across the state. The Ministry said the residents of Anantnag, Baramulla, Budgam, Bandipore offered prayers and distributed sweets, without any reports of untoward incidents.

"Prayers being offered on the occasion of Eid in Jammu and Kashmir. Sharing sweets and bringing smiles on everyone's faces," Home Ministry Spokesperson Vasudha Gupta tweeted.

The IGP also said no medicolegal case has been reported, and according to the statistics available with the police, injuries to only a couple of people have been reported. "I am saying that they were admitted in the hospital but they are absolutely stable," he said.

Referring to the law and order situation, Pani said some arrests were made but these were "absolutely in the ambit of law" and all those arrested were produced before the court and legal actions are being taken.

Strongly denying unfounded reports of violence, Principal Secretary (Planning) Rohit Kansal said that Eid was celebrated peacefully across Jammu and Kashmir.

Kansal said Jammu and Kashmir has been peaceful and certain reports, on the contrary, are false. "I would like to categorically deny that any firing incident has happened in the state.

I reiterate that not a single bullet has been fired by security agencies. Nor has there been any casualties," he said.

Kansal said the district and divisional administrations carried out a number of activities, including interacting with maulvis and common people, ensuring trading activities in markets, and as a result the Eid festival has been extremely peaceful.

He said the authorities were watching the situation very carefully and the overall policy of the government has been to ease restrictions as much as possible.