Government proposes peace panel to restore order in Haryana's Tauru

GURGAON: The government on Tuesday proposed to form a committee to restore peace in Tauru, the town in Mewat district that has been under curfew since Sunday when it witnessed a communal clash.

Named 'Aman' (peace), the committee is to constitute 11 members from the two communities involved in the violence. But the plan ran into a stumbling block within hours of being proposed as only one community named all 11 members for the panel while the other insisted on action in cases filed after Sunday's clash before naming its representatives. Leaders of the community that held out also insisted that the those who instigated Sunday's violence must be booked for talks to take place.

"They want us to be a part of a joint committee so that a decision can be taken mutually. But we have rejected their idea and proposed that a joint meeting should be convened only after they arrest those responsible for the violence," said a community leader, who attended the meeting with the Mewat deputy commissioner and superintendent of police on Tuesday. "We will not bow to their tactics time and again. We will sit for a joint meeting only after appropriate action is taken by the police," another leader from the same community.

At the same time, representatives of other community were hopeful of a peaceful solution and welcome 's idea of setting up an 'Aman' committee.

"We have given names of 11 representatives who will talk on behalf of our community. By Wednesday, the names of the other community should also be sent to , and we may have a resolution then," said a leader of the community in favour of talks.

Even as parleys were on to broker peace in Tauru, curfew was relaxed from 8am to 11am on Tuesday. In the hours that curfew was relaxed, some shops opened and people were seen buying things at the market. The administration is likely to relax it again on Wednesday during daytime and re-impose it at night if the two communities fail to sit across the table and reach a solution.

Deputy commissioner Ramesh Verma made an appeal to the people to maintain peace. "We are geared to face any exigency. And whosoever was injured IN Sunday's violence will get compensation from or any other help one wants," said Verma.

As of now, there are around 1,500 armed personnel of Rapid Action Force, Haryana Police and BSF deployed in the town.