Kolkata, April 14: 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.

Kolkata, April 14: Amid the continuing air of tension in Murshidabad district of West Bengal, which has been on the boil for the last few days with violent protests over the Waqf (Amendment) Act, the administration has decided to extend the suspension of Internet services to the adjacent districts of Malda and Birbhum.

At the same time, some additional areas in the Murshidabad district have also been brought under the ambit of the suspension of Internet services. Earlier, the suspension of Internet services was enforced mainly in troubled areas like Suti, Jangipur, Dhulian, and Samserganj, among others, the areas that were most affected by violence and riot-like situations.

An insider from the state police said that although following the beginning of joint patrolling by the state police and the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel since Saturday night following an order of a special division bench of the Calcutta High Court, the situation in Murshidabad has come more or less unless control as of now. The main headache of the law enforcement authorities is the continuing spreading and sharing of fake information regarding the tension through different social media platforms.

The suspension of Internet service in the extended areas will be enforced till 10 p.m. on April 15. Whether the suspension will be lifted or not after that will be decided on the situation prevailing then.

Meanwhile, the Border Security Force (BSF), whose personnel are mainly deputed to the troubled areas, will send a comprehensive report on the development following the visit of the BSF’s Additional Director General (Eastern Command) Ravi Gandhi to the troubled pockets.

During the visit, Gandhi will review the deployment of the BSF personnel in the region and also discuss with the senior officers of the state police how better coordination could be achieved on this count.

The BSF has also been alerted to ensure absolute security of the villages adjacent to the International Borders with Bangladesh in the Murshidabad and Malda districts, to ensure that members from underground extremist groups there cannot enter the Indian Territory and fuel the existing tension.

Meanwhile, as per the latest report available, almost 500 families from the different troubled pockets in the Murshidabad district are currently homeless and have taken shelter at a temporary relief camp at a school in the adjacent Malda district. These families are mainly from the Dhulian and Samserganj areas.

Jammu, April 11: A terrorist was killed in a joint operation launched against terrorists in J&K’s Kishtwar district on Friday, officials said.

The terrorist was killed in the joint operation by the army and the other security forces launched on April 9 in the Chatroo area of Kishtwar.

“The operation was based on specific intelligence inputs, which led to a firefight with terrorists, resulting in one terrorist neutralised. The search operation, conducted by the Army and police, aimed to flush out terrorists hiding in the dense forests, continues,” an official said.

Another operation is going on in the Joffar forest area in the jurisdiction of Ramnagar police station in Udhampur district.

A CASO (Cordon and search operation) by the joint forces was started on April 9, and three terrorists are reportedly trapped inside the cordoned off area.

Civilian Rachpal told security forces that three terrorists dressed in black, heavily armed, entered his house around 8.30 p.m. on April 9 and left around 11.30 p.m.

Following the disclosure by the civilian, security forces tightened the cordon, and after reinforcements were called in, the joint forces were closing in on the hiding terrorists, as per the last reports.

On March 3, a police team immediately reached Sanyal village in the Hiranagar area of Kathua district, where five terrorists were spotted.

Since Sanyal village is barely 4 km away from the international border, the group of terrorists spotted in Sanyal village are believed to have recently infiltrated into the Indian side.

The terrorists managed to escape from Sanyal to the Safiyun Jakhole area. The police team engaged the terrorists in a sustained gunfight, killing two terrorists.

Four policemen were martyred in that gunfight. To trace the remaining three terrorists, joint forces started a ‘seek & destroy’ operation, which was extended to higher reaches of Kathua and Rajouri districts.

A brief exchange of gunfire took place between the terrorists and the joint forces in the Billawar area of Kathua district.

On April 8, Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired a high-level security review meeting in Srinagar. The meeting was attended by the J&K Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha, the Union Home Secretary, the IB chief, the army chief, the army’s Northern Commander, GOCs of all the corps in J&K, chiefs of paramilitary forces, the J&K DGP and heads of other intelligence agencies.

The Home Minister appreciated the role of the joint forces in curbing terrorism, but gave orders for the total eradication of terrorism from J&K with special focus on the Jammu division of the UT.