GILGIT, June 8: At least nine persons were arrested for violating administrative orders during curfew break in Gilgit, sources told Dawn on Tuesday.
For the first time in six days a two-hour relaxation was given in curfew in the sensitive parts of the city.
Security forces arrested eight persons for violating a ban on plying vehicles during curfew break, a senior police official said. He said cases had been registered against them.
The security officials arrested one, Rauf, and seized a 30-bore pistol from his possession in Basin, in the suburbs of Gilgit city, police said. The break in curfew was given in Nagaral, Khomer, Jutial and Burmas areas from 10am to 12 noon.
The residents in these localities told Dawn that they were nearly starving for being under curfew for the last six days. They said they were facing shortage of foodstuff, water, milk for children and medicines. Some residents complained that they even could not take patients to hospitals due to which one young woman died on Monday.
The wheat flour was available at Rs15 per kilograms. There was a great rush in the market. Due to non-payment of salaries the people were facing great hardships in buying essential items from the market.
The authorities said the delay in lifting curfew from these areas was due to the tense situation and security risk in these localities. The administration also relaxed curfew for two hours around 2pm to 4pm in other parts of the city where situation remained calm.
The authorities did not allow the use of private and public transport, nor were people allowed to enter the city or go out of it without security personnel escorting them. The local magistrate provided buses and police escorts to stranded passengers.
Over 300 stranded passengers had so far been evacuated from the city, Akbar Khan, a city magistrate, said. People in adjoining Ghizer district said they were also running short of foodstuff and essential items as the Ghizer-Gilgit road was still closed for traffic.
WEAPONS RECOVERED: The protestors on Tuesday returned the weapons snatched from the personnel of the Frontier Constabulary (FC) on June 4 to the police, Northern Areas Home Secretary Saeed Ahmed Khan said.
Mr Khan said the protestors snatched seven machine guns, and some pistols from the FC who were guarding the Chinese engineers on the Karakoram Highway. Sources said some three FC personnel, who had been reported missing during the protests, returned safely to Gilgit.
The authorities also claimed to have recovered at least 45 weapons from the possession of different people in city areas during the clean-up operation. They said they had tightened security and pickets had been set up in and around the city.
The sources said the community elders were coordinating with the administration to retrieve those weapons stolen from the Police Training Centre.
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