Murshidabad violence: Over 200 arrested, tension surfaces at Bhangar in South 24 Parganas

Kolkata: The total number of arrests in connection with the violence in pockets of the Murshidabad district of West Bengal has crossed 200, informed a senior official of the state police on Monday.

Several areas in the district witnessed violent protests over the newly-promulgated Waqf (Amendment) Act last week, with Hindus being subjected to targeted violence in particular.

Confirming that the arrests on this count have crossed 200, Additional Director General (law & order) of state police Javed Shamim said the situation in the troubled pockets both in Murshidabad and Malda districts is more or less normal now

“The route marches in the troubled areas are being conducted continuously. Senior police officials are there at the spot. The situation is fast becoming normal. The shops and establishments have started opening,” he said.

However, he added that there are attempts to spread rumours about the situation by some vested interests from other states and to prevent that spreading of rumours, Internet services have been suspended for the time being in certain areas.

He also said that the process of ensuring the return of the displaced persons to their homes has already started.

In the meantime, tension surfaced at the minority-dominated Bhangar Assembly constituency in the South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal on Monday afternoon.

Clashes broke out between the cops and the supporters of All India Secular Front (AISF) from Bhangar after the latter were stopped from approaching the venue of their protests at Kolkata against the Waqf (Amendment) Act.

The AISF supporters blocked the Basanti Highway in protests, following which the traffic movement there got heavily disrupted. The AISF activists refused to refrain from blocking the highways despite repeated requests from the police.

The AISF legislator from Bhangar, Nausad Siddique, who is his party’s lone representative in the state Assembly, said the police are mainly responsible for spreading tension over the Waqf issue.

“This is just to divert attention from the public unrest over the recent cancellation of 25,753 school jobs following an order of the Supreme Court. We were stopped unnecessarily, and the police deliberately did it to create tension. We will go the legal way in the matter,” he said.

IANS