By Rajesh Sharma
Una, July 30 – Authorities in Una district in Himachal Pradesh moved swiftly to contradict a television channel report that people who were angry that the Union Government had failed to secure the release of three Indians held in Iraq had taken 37 foreigners hostage. Senior officials went to the spot and reported there was no hostage-like situation.
They clarified that the foreigners had been held up by the angry protests that had paralysed most of the district, dislocating road and rail communications and shutting educational and commercial establishments.
The foreigners — including citizens of Poland, Switzerland, Israel, Canada, Japan, Peru, Tibet, the Netherlands and the US —were on their way from Mcleodganj to Delhi, but reached a roadblock late on Thursday night. On Friday afternoon, security forces were sent to take them to Una, from where their two buses left for Delhi under escort.
One of the tourists, Luis Leon from Peru, confirmed that they had not been treated like hostages. He told HT that though he had to sleep the night in the bus, local villagers had provided food for them on Friday.
Demonstrations, however, continued to disrupt life in Una, even though the Iraqi militants extended the deadline to execute an Indian hostage in the afternoon. As the earlier deadline drew near, most of Una district came to a standstill.
Thousands of local residents — who had been blocking traffic on the main roads at a number of places since Thursday night — put up barricades at several places. Consequently traffic to and from Chandigarh, Hoshiarpur, Dharamsala and Hamirpur was disrupted.
At the Rai Mehatpur railway station, hundreds of locals squatted on the railway tracks before the arrival of the Delhi-Una Himachal Express.
The district administration appeared helpless and the police were spectators to the protests. Una deputy commissioner Rajneesh Kumar and SP Ashok Sharma tried to pacify the crowd and allow the passage of thousands of commuters stranded at various places in the district. Their appeals were, however, ignored.
