Hailakandi: Night curfew continued in Assam's Hailakandi district, even as a peace march was taken out out on Thursday with no untoward incident reported after a week of the communal clash.
The district administration had relaxed the curfew from 7 am to 10 pm with only night curfew in force, an official release said.
Meanwhile, according to another official order on Thursday, Section 144 was promulgated with immediate effect throughout the district, as the administration has got reports that "certain anti-social elements are trying to flare-up religious sentiments to disturb peace and tranquility."
The order "prohibits the offering of prayer outside the demarcated boundary of mosque, temple, church... on roads and in any public places that may create inconvenience to the general public and obstruct movement of traffic".
The 'Peace Rally' was taken out from the deputy commissioner's office premise and passed through different localities of the town.
Representatives of political parties, officials, civil society members from different communities and prominent citizens took part in it.
Hailakandi MLA Anwar Hussain Laskar, Algapur MLA Nizam Uddin Choudhury, Katlicherra MLA Suzam Uddin Laskar, former minister Gautam Roy, Deputy Commissioner Keerthi Jalli and Superintendent of Police Mohneesh Mishra were among the participants in the march.
Following clashes between two communities on May 10, a curfew was imposed in Hailakandi and later extended to the entire district, as authorities apprehended breach of peace and tranquility.
Jalli, however, had claimed that the incident was the "handiwork of some miscreants" and not a communal flare up as "there exists unity and amity among the communities" in the district.
One person had died in police firing and at least 15 people were injured, while more than 15 vehicles were damaged and 12 shops vandalised and set on fire in some parts of the town.
The Army, CRPF, Rapid Action Force (RAF) and Assam Rifles were deployed to assist the district administration in maintaining law and order, following the outbreak of violence and arson.
The Assam government has instituted a one-man inquiry panel headed by Additional Chief Secretary Rajiv Kumar Bora to conduct a probe into the incident.
Trouble started when a group of people decided to hold the Friday noon prayers on the road, located at Kali Bari point of the town, in protest against some motorcycles being damaged by people belonging to another community.
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