New Delhi, April 01: Home Minister P Chidambaram said the riots in Hyderabad are a result of petty skirmishes and asserted that all those behind the violence would have to pay a heavy price .
He has appealed to the people of Hyderabad to maintain calm. The Home Minister said yesterday that the city remained peaceful but the curfew will remain imposed as long as it is necessary.
He expressed confidence that the situation will be brought under control soon.
He said that the security personnel have been instructed to firmly deal with the situation. Mr. Chidambaram said that more than adequate forces have been deployed to handle the situation.
Later addressing a conference of State Minorities Commissions in New Delhi, Mr. Chidambaram assured the minorities that a new law to deal with communal violence will be put in place by the end of this year.
He said that government is committed to preserve, protect and promote secular values and provide equality of opportunity to all religious minorities. Mr. Chidambaram said the Central government is working on a law for prevention, control and rehabilitation of the victims of the communal violence since December 2005 when the bill was referred to a Parliamentary Standing Committee.
Meanwhile in Andhra Pradesh, the situation in curfew-clamped areas of old city of Hyderabad is fully under control and peaceful with no fresh incidents of violence reported. Indefinite curfew is in force in 25 police station areas in the wake of clashes between two groups which claimed two lives and injured nearly 50 persons so far.
Speaking to reporters Home Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy said curfew would be relaxed for one and half hours today morning at four places.
Stating that the trouble-torn areas of old city are presently peaceful, the Minister has appealed to the people to cooperate with the Government in restoring normalcy. Meanwhile, the Police Commissioner A K Khan said no fresh incidents of violence reported from the curfew-bound areas.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner is probing the reasons behind flaring up of clashes in the old city as the Government has asked for a detailed report on the incidents took place in the last three days. The Commissioner has said that 67 criminal cases have been booked ever since the clashes began on Saturday last and nearly 190 persons were taken into custody. He said it was also decided to remove all religious flags a day after the festival was over to avoid recurrence of such clashes.
–Agencies