KASHMIR NEWS OBSERVER
As per the details available the fire broke out in the house of Jagdish Kumar at around 7:30 PM and spread over to other houses in which three houses belonging to Jagdish Kumar, Veer Singh and Satish Kumar were damaged while two houses which belong to Prahalad Baghat and Gansham Shan were partially damaged.
As soon as the news of fire incident broke out, large number of youth including members of Muslim community immediately rushed to the spot and joined police team headed by SHO Police Station Kishtwar Sameer Jeelani in rescue and relief operation.
With the joint efforts of youth from both the communities along with Police and Red Cross volunteer Asgar Ali Sheikh, the major tragedy was averted as the area is densely populated with many houses in clusters.
The fire fighters also played their key role in dousing the fire and prevented it from spreading to adjacent houses.
Several people while talking to Kashmir Life hailed the efforts of youth in playing the lead role in dousing the fire.
“Kishtwar is known for communal harmony from centuries together; today’s incident also proved that communal harmony exists in blood of Kishtwar people despite the fact that in recent past many efforts were made by some mischievous elements to break the fabric of peace and communal harmony by dividing the people on the name of religion,” said an elderly person who hoped that people of both the communities will live together in peace, communal harmony and brotherhood in future as well.
It took nearly three hours to rescue teams to bring the fire under control.
The preliminary reports suggested that the fire was caused due to leakage of LPG cylinder, however, police have registered a case and started their investigation.
The fire victims collectively suffered losses to the tune of over Rs 1 crore.
It is pertinent to mention that Hidyal chowk was the epicentre of August 2008 infamous Kishtwar Communal riots and also witnessed arson during 2013 Kishtwar Eid violence.