Protests in Mendhar over armys bid to grab graveyard

Poonch: Protests broke out Saturday in Mendhar area of this border district after locals found that army has erected a sentry post at a graveyard despite objections by the locals and the district administration.

Scores of residents of Sabra Gali village in Mendhar here staged strong anti-army demonstrations after offering Fajr prayers when they discovered that the soldiers of 5 Grenadiers have erected a surveillance tower during the intervening night at a local graveyard, officials and reports said. The protesting locals said that despite the instructions of police and district administration, the army went ahead and constructed the tower.

As the protests were going on, senior police and civil administration officials reached the spot and reprimanded army for constructing the sentry post.

Even on Friday, we had told army not to erect any post at the graveyard. However, they went ahead. This morning after locals protested, the district administration and police got the post removed. Army has been told not to raise any construction around the graveyard, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mendhar, Surinder Singh told GNS.

He said that the situation was totally peaceful in the area after the soldiers removed the tower and left from the graveyard.

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Pertinently, an army team had appeared at the graveyard on Friday and started digging for the construction of a sentry post. The army had continued construction work even as the residents had objected strongly to their move. It was only after district administration and police had intervened, army had stopped the work. However, during night, the soldiers had raised the tower causing much disappointment and resentment among the locals. (GNS)

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