Tension prevails in Jammu after violent protest

Army called out in Jammu on early Saturday taking note of the violent turn of the agitation over Amarnath land row, which claimed two lives and injured many by the police firing carried out on Friday to control the mobs who were protesting against the revocation of land transfer to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB).

The violence erupted on Friday following the failure of talks between Amarnath Yatra Sangarsh Samiti (AYSS) and the Jammu & Kashmir governor NN Vohra. The protestors were protesting against the presence of National Conference leader and former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mehbooba Mufti at an all party meeting called by the governor on the very issue.

The agitators after the incident blamed governor’s rigid stand for the failure of talks. Army was called only after infuriated agitators started destroying public properties; they have set ablaze a police chauki near the Raj Bhawan. Protestors alleged that the governor don’t want to pay a heed to the demands of the agitators.

The entire protest escalated last week after the suicide of an activist saying that he was ‘sacrificing his life for the cause’. Since then a curfew has been imposed and a shutdown in Jammu has entered the ninth day on Saturday (August 02).

It all began from the Muslim dominated Kashmir region where people were protesting against the 40 hectares of forest land allotted by the government to the trust that organizes the annual pilgrimage. Muslim separatist leaders accused the Congress-led coalition government for favouring Hindu shrine board. They termed it as a part of larger conspiracy by the state administration to alter the demographic character by allowing settlement of non-Muslims.

The controversial land allotment order was later revoked on July 01. But on July 09, the government fell down with the withdrawal of PDP from the alliance which forced Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to resign and Jammu & Kashmir came under Governor’s rule following which protests by Hindu organisations took the shape of ugly turn in many regions of Jammu.

However, Hindu organisations are very much critical to Governor Vohra’s statement in which he stated that the shrine board didn’t need the piece of land if the state is ready to do all arrangements for the pilgrims. This had brought much criticism from the parts of Bharatiya Janta Party and other Hindu organisation.

The Governor later proposed an eight-point letter allowing the shrine board to maintain the infrastructure during the pilgrimage. But Amarnath Yatra Sangarsh Samiti is adamant on its earlier stand that the decision to cancel the land transfer should be revoked.

Meanwhile, as per latest report the army has performed a flag march on the streets of Jammu and other curfew-bound districts as tension still prevails in most parts after Friday’s violent protest.