Jat quota stir: Haryana on high alert, paramilitary services deployed in sensitive areas

Chandigarh: With a section of Jat community leaders giving a call to re-start protests for reservation from Sunday, the Haryana government and the state police are bracing themselves to deal with the situation.Paramilitary forces and Haryana Police have been deployed in sensitive areas of Rohtak, Jhajjar, Sonipat, Jind, Panipat and Kaithal districts to ensure that the agitation does not get out of control and turns violent.In Sonipat district, orders have been imposed under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, prohibiting any assembly of five or more people at any place.The Jat community has served a 15-day ultimatum to the Haryana government for implementation of reservation.Reports said the agitators, who have started their agitation in rural areas instead of towns this time, had begun their protest rally at Mayyar village in Hisar district, Dhanana village in Bhiwani district, Jasia village in Rohtak district, Jhanj Khurd village in Jind district, Matloda village in Panipat district and Pranpura Bawal village in Rewari district .With the Jat agitation being renewed after the Punjab and Haryana High Court stayed the notification for quotas to the Jat and other communities, people in northern states comprising Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Union Territory of Chandigarh appeared worried that the agitation could lead to road and railway blockades in Haryana again.[caption id="attachment_2812070" align="alignleft" width="380"]

File image of Jat agitation. PTI[/caption]The call for the renewed agitation has been given by the All-India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS). Some other sections of the Jat community and its leadership have distanced themselves from the agitation call.AIJASS leader Hawa Singh Sangwan assured that the protests would remain peaceful.The Haryana Police on Thursday announced that leave of all police personnel had been cancelled.Haryana Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Ram Niwas said that 48 companies of paramilitary forces would assist the state police in maintaining peace across the state.Haryana Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Mohammad Akil has said that police was fully geared up to meet any eventuality."Police and district administration would maintain law and order and safety of the people would be ensured. Individuals or groups of people found trying to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere directly or indirectly would invite stern action against themselves," he said."There is neither shortage of police force nor of equipment in maintaining law and order. Police would not tolerate any act to block road or rail. The police officers are holding meetings with responsible citizens to maintain peace in rural and urban areas," he said.The BJP government in Haryana, led by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, which was blamed for inept handling of the violence in February, has set up a state-level riot control room to deal with the forthcoming agitation.The administration in Haryana's Sonipat district also banned all Internet services ahead of the agitation."With a view to ward off any tension, fights, threats to human life, damage to property and deterioration in the law and order situation, District Magistrate, Sonipat, K Makarand Pandurang, has issued orders to ban all Internet services, including Internet 2G, 3G, 4G, Edge, GPRS and Bulk SMS sent via mobile, under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code with effect from 4 June, 2016."This ban would be effective till further orders," a state government spokesman said on Saturday.The ban has been imposed to prevent people from misusing these services which might be used to spread wrong information and rumours, the district magistrate said."These services could also be used in illegal activities such as blocking roads, highways and railway tracks, damaging government property and disrupting essential services and supply of food. Social media such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Flickr, Tumblr, Google Plus and mobile internet could be misused for this purpose," he added.All telecom service providers have been directed to strictly abide by these orders, he added.The Rohtak district administration on Saturday issued notices to four people for violating Section 144 imposed in the district by pitching tents for 'dharna' without permission of the competent authority.Rohtak Deputy Commissioner Atul Kumar said that notices have been issued to former sarpanch of village Rithal, Umed Singh, Sombir Singh, resident of village Jasiya, Ashok Balhara of Dev Colony and Vijaydeep of Rohtak, for pitching tents near Kanhi Chowk in village Jasiya, for which permission was not sought from the administration."They have been directed to remove the tents immediately," he said, adding that the ground in Sector 6 had been earmarked for the dharna and restriction has been imposed on gathering of five or more persons within 500 metres of all national and state highways, railway lines and stations and connecting roads in the district.Haryana saw the worst violence in its five decades of existence in February this year during the Jat agitation for reservation.As many as 30 persons were killed, 320 others injured and property worth hundreds of crores of rupees was destroyed during the agitation. The state remained paralysed for nearly 10 days.The Khattar government had last month notified reservation for the Jat and five other communities in jobs and admissions but the Punjab and Haryana High Court last week stayed the notification which gave reservation in government jobs and educational institutions under the Backward Class category.