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Curfew relaxed for 4 hours in riot-hit Hyderabad

The indefinite curfew in the old city of Hyderabad, which was rocked by communal violence during the weekend, was relaxed for four hours today, to enable the people to buy essential commodities.

The police said no untoward incident was reported from any part of the affected areas when the curfew was relaxed.

Most shopping areas in the old city were bustling with activity after a three-day lull, as the people were hurrying through their purchases. Heavy security arrangements were made in the areas.

The curfew was relaxed from 7 am to 9 am in Mirchowk, Reinbazar, Dabeerpura, Bhavaninagar, Chatrinakha, Shalibanda, Shamsheergunj and Chandrayanagutta police station limits, and from 10 am to 12 noon in the areas falling under Charminar, Hussainialam, Kamatipura and Kalapattar police station limits.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu last night said he would request the chief justice of the Andhra Pradesh high court to constitute a special court to try offenders involved in the communal disturbances in the old city.

Talking to reporters in Hyderabad after visiting the curfew bound areas, he said 30 offenders involved in the violence were arrested after being identified with the help of video films. Video cameras would be installed at different places in the old city to constantly monitor the situation, he added.

Naidu said additional central forces would be deployed in the old city today.

On Sunday, two units of the Rapid Action Force were flown in from Bombay even as the RAF personnel, along with the central and state armed policemen, staged a flag march in the curfew-bound areas of the old city where at least eight people were killed, more than 100 others injured in police firing, stabbing and other violent incidents over the last two days.

The Union home ministry, as per the request of the AP government, air-lifted another two RAF units from Ahmedabad later in the day.

Eight units of the RAF, three companies of the Central Reserve Police Force and about 4,000 state armed policemen were already deployed in the hyper-sensitive areas of the zone over the weekend.

Yesterday, central and state police personnel staged a flag march in communally hyper-sensitive areas, and authorities distributed water and milk to residents in curfew-bound areas.

Union Minister of State for Urban Affairs Bandaru Dattatreya, who flew into Hyderabad for an on-the-spot study on instructions from Home Minister L K Advani, alleged that a ''big organisation -- religious, political or politico-religious'' was behind Friday's violence.

He said the incidents were ''pre-planned'' and the police had failed to take precautionary measures in the wake of circulation of a pamphlet since June 2, which caused the disturbances.

However, the orgy of violence was retaliatory in nature as a 400-year-old temple and a masjid were damaged, he added.

Meanwhile, the AP government had made the necessary arrangements for the smooth administration of the traditional 'fish medicine' for asthma patients by the Battina Goud family at the sprawling Nizam College grounds on Monday.

The Goud family had agreed to shift the venue from Dood Bowli in the old city following an appeal by Chief Minister Naidu in the wake of communal violence.

Revenue Minister T Devender Goud said the government had made arrangements for supply of water and lighting facilities to those coming from various parts of the country to stay at the Lal Bahadur stadium since the medicine would be administered continuously for three days.

Fishermen in the state have also called off their three-day bandh following an assurance from the chief minister to protect their rights and to enact a legislation in this regard, if necessary. The fishermen had also agreed to supply 500,000 fish korramatta (marral) for administering the asthma medicine.

Meanwhile, AP Congress president Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy has demanded that the Centre depute a team to assess the law and order situation in the state, especially in the wake of the recent communal violence in the old city of Hyderabad.

Addressing a news conference at Gandhi Bhavan, the PCC headquarters, after visiting the curfew-bound areas on Sunday, he said the Centre should rise above politics and send its team immediately as the state government had failed in fulfilling its basic responsibility of maintaining law and order in the state.

Asked whether he demanded any central action in the state, Reddy said it would follow.

He regretted that the government machinery did not ''wake up'' even after intelligent reports warned of trouble in the area following circulation of a pamphlet allegedly denigrating a particular community. Mostly innocent people had lost their lives and property in the violence, he added.

Dattatreya, however, has rejected Reddy's demand for a visit by a central team to the riot-hit areas.

UNI

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