Mangalore limping back to normalcy

The coastal town of Mangalore, which was rocked by communal violence, was limping back to normalcy with no untoward incident being reported since Saturday night.

However, the town and the surrounding areas remained under heavy police security, save for a three-hour period on Monday morning when curfew was lifted to facilitate people to buy essential commodities.

When relaxation of curfew was announced, people, who had remained indoors for the last three to four days, rushed to the streets, swarming shops and provisional stores. Long queues were seen outside many shops selling items of daily consumption. Many shopkeepers faced a shortage of essential commodities, as fresh stocks had not arrived.

The authorities have declared a holiday for schools and colleges on Monday and Tuesday, besides extending curfew till Monday evening. Though the town remained incident-free for the last two days, a tense atmosphere continued to pervade in the society.

Meanwhile, various contingents of police including Rapid Action Force (RAF), Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) and civil police staged a flag march to instill a sense of confidence in the people. The flag march passed through communally sensitive localities like Bunder, Car Street, Lalbagh and State Bank. Similar flag marches were also held in Ullal and other suburbs of Mangalore that came under the grip of communal frenzy.

Police said two persons had died while 70 others had sustained injuries during the communal violence that broke in Mangalore after a van carrying cattle to the slaughterhouse was intercepted.

Meanwhile, Karnataka’s Home Minister M P Prakash is expected to visit Mangalore and take stock of the situation.

A delegation of Congress leaders from Bangalore is also expected to visit the affected areas. According to sources in the Congress party, Federal Minister of State for Home Sri Prakash Jaiswal and Federal Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation Oscar Fernandes, who hails from Mangalore, are also expected to visit the trouble-hit town.

In Bangalore, a delegation comprising Left parties, litterateurs and representatives of various organizations met Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and submitted a memorandum blaming the Sangh Parivar for communal riots in Mangalore.

The delegation sought the immediate arrest of the leaders of the Sangh Parivar for fomenting communal trouble in Mangalore. President of Karnataka Forum for Dignity K M Sharief, who was part of the delegation, accused the local police of colluding with the leaders of Sangh Parivar and committing atrocities on Muslims.