Bhatkallys.com team visits Honnavar; finds out 'things not so calm'

Bhatkallys News Bureau/ I. Zaorez Shabab Bhatkal 09 Dec 2017: A team of Bhatkallys.com on Saturday visited the clashes hit Honnavar town, where the communal clashes has created clouds of fear among communities for last couple of days. As the team embarked on journey in the evening, it found things to be peaceful and calm throughout on the way including towns like Murdeshwar, Manki and Kasorgod. But to the surprise of our team, as soon as it entered the Honnavar town, deployment of heavy security forces, police patrolling cars and in the midst of it all the groups of people belonging to saffronist background despite the imposition of sec 144, had created the sense of fear in the town. Although there was public movement in some areas, but our team hardly did spot a Muslim person, it seemed like there was none in the town. All our team could spot was security personnel, patrolling cars, and people with saffron flags and headbands throughout the city in every nook and corner of it. Our team tried calling some of its sources in the town, but everyone of them refused to step out of their houses fearing of more clashes that would take place if they come out and are attacked by these mobs. Speaking Bhatkallys.com over the phone, prominent social worker of Honnavar Nasrullah said "People are afraid to step out of their homes from last couple of days, fearing for their lives and family members". He further said "We also fear that if we step out of our homes and are attacked by these mobs, there will be more trouble in town, and we don't want it to happen. We want peace to be back in the town as soon as possible". Speaking of Shobha Karandlaje's visit Nasrullah further said "That such visits are meant to instill hatred among communities and to further increase the sensitivity of the issue for their political gains". We also spoke with our departmental sources, who asked us to head back to Bhatkal before night and asked us not to use camera for videography and photography fearing the things could turn worse if our team find itself into the trouble. Following the advises from our sources, our team returned back from near RTO office after formally entering into the Honnavar limits. 'Around 300-400 people standing in groups within the distance of 2-3 Kilometers while the security officials were patrolling the area without questioning the presence of these groups', is how our team defines the imposition of sec 144 in Honnavar amidst communal clashes.