Amarnath land row: Bandh affects normal life
NEW DELHI: Several highways across the country were blocked and some trains were stopped on Thursday as BJP and VHP workers took to the streets in support of their shutdown to protest revocation of the land allotment to the Amarnath shrine board in Jammu and Kashmir.
While there were reports of several trains being blocked in Agra, the Delhi-Amritsar highway was blocked by Bharatiya Janata Party and Vishwa Hindu Parishad workers. Traffic between Delhi and the suburb of Noida was also impacted with the protesters blocking the DND flyover.
The VHP’s international general secretary Praveen Togadia claimed that the strike was completely successful. A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader added that “the impact was more visible” in states ruled by the party.
BJP and VHP workers came out in large numbers on the streets in cities like Indore, Agra, Aligarh and Bhopal. In Ahmedabad, however, the ruling BJP said it would not join the shutdown given the precarious security situation in view of the annual Jagannath rathyatra on Friday.
“About 150 rathyatras are taken out in the state and keeping the security aspect uppermost in mind we have decided not to join the strike,” BJP spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Rupani said.
VHP activists go on rampage in Thane
The bandh turned violent in Thane city and surrounding areas with the VHP activists targetting public transport and other establishments.
Incidents of stone pelting on state transport and private vehicles by VHP activists were reported from various parts of the city including Naupada and Wagle estate, police said.
The activists also disrupted traffic at some places by putting blockades on roads.
Sporadic incidents of stone pelting were also reported from Kalyan, Dombivili and other parts of the district.
No report of anybody getting injured during the incidents was received.
Incidents of stone pelting reported from Mumbai
Incidents of stone pelting and road blockades were reported in various parts of the financial capital during the day-long countrywide protest.
Protesters suspected to be from the VHP pelted buses with stones in suburban Kandivili damaging five BEST buses, police said.
Hundreds of VHP supporters blocked important arterial roads at Vakola, Malad and Borivili in northwest Mumbai and in the northeast suburb of Ghatkopar that caused difficulties to officegoers in reaching their workplaces, they said.
The police have, however, dispersed the crowd and ensured a smooth traffic flow.
Nobody was reported injured in the incidents of stone pelting and road blockades, police said.
Bandh evokes good response in parts of Karnataka
Shops and business establishments in several parts of Karnataka remained closed with the state’s bus services hit due to the bandh.
However, the bandh evoked little response in Bangalore. Government offices functioned normally and public transport vehicles plied as usual in Bangalore though the traffic wore a thin look.
Normalcy was affected in the districts of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Mysore, Kodagu as well as in Hubli-Dharwad, among others, where bus services were also hit.
Police said they have made adequate precautionary measures to maintain law and order in the BJP-ruled state, where the party’s state-unit has extended full support to the bandh.
The bandh was however not supported by the government. “Since it is not a government-sponsored bandh, all government offices as well as schools and colleges will function normally,” a police official said.
Despite violence, record turnout for Amarnath yatra
Chandanwari (J-K): Twenty-six-year old Praveen Kumar, an executive with a multinational company, is on his fourth successive Amarnath yatra.
The news of trouble in Kashmir over the transfer of land to the Amarnath Shrine Board and reports of violence in Jammu did not deter him from embarking upon the 25-km trek of faith and devotion.
“They told there is risk in Jammu and Kashmir but we don’t care about the protest. We believe in the holy power of Shiva,” he says.
Though there were violent protests across Jammu and Kashmir over the transfer of land, a record number of pilgrims are doing the trek.
Compared with last year’s 2.5 lakh pilgrims who went to the cave in a period of two months, this year, more than four lakh devotees have turned up in the first two weeks.
This has been good news for pony operators like Abdul Qayoom. “I am a poor labourer and come here for two months to this place to make a living,” he says.
Amarnath land row: After Kashmir, Jammu simmers
Zaffar Iqbal
Thursday, July 3, 2008 (Jammu)
The violence in the Kashmir valley has finally subsided after the government took back a controversial land transfer order, the land meant to be used by the former Governor to construct facilities for the Amarnath yatris.
But now it’s Jammu, which is simmering with violence over the reversal of the order that transferred land to the Amarnath shrine board.
On Thursday also, Jammu remains paralysed after the spate of violent protests. Several areas of the city are still under curfew and protests are still taking place in some areas.
Jammu was under curfew on Wednesday and the army out with flag marches as a dangerous religious divide underlines the response of the state.
A curfew in large parts of the city failed to prevent the clashes. Sixty people were injured in different parts of Jammu in fresh violence on Wednesday.
In Nagrota, on the outskirts of Jammu, protestors tried to block the highway and clashed with the police.
”We won’t sit quiet, we have left Kashmir and come here, we are dying in one room, nobody is listening to us for the last 20 years,” said a Kashmiri-pandit protestor.
Scores of people were injured in clashes in the Baderwah and Samba districts too.
With elections just round the corner, the controversy is a heaven sent for Jammu based parties like the BJP, which won just one seat in Jammu in the last assembly elections.
The BJP has called for a nationwide bandh on Thursday. It has also threatened to sue the Azad government saying it’s in a minority and in no position to decide on the land transfer.
In the elections, the party likely to suffer most is the Congress as it has 16 of its 22 seats in Jammu alone.
”If we suffer in the elections, so be it. We will fight the elections on principles and will not get influenced by communal forces,” said Gulchain Singh Charak Congress Leader.
Despite curfew there is no let down in the protests in Jammu, it’s brought all the Jammu based together and Jammu might simmer even more in the coming days.
Protests in Delhi over Amarnath land row
economictimes.indiatimes.com …
NEW DELHI: Bajrang Dal activists on Saturday held demonstrations outside the Jammu and Kashmir house here protesting any move to cancel a controversial land allotment to the Amarnath shrine authorities.
“Several hundred Bajrang Dal activists protested outside the J&K house today afternoon and tried to enter it,” a Delhi Police officer said. “They were carrying swords and were throwing stones on the J&K house. They also damaged a police bus and broke its window panes,” the police officer added. The protestors shouted slogans against the Jammu and Kashmir government and also burned the effigies of leaders of the state government.
The police had use water cannons to disperse them. “Six persons were arrested for rioting,” the police officer said. Meanwhile, Roots in Kashmir, an organisation of Kashmiri Pandits, along with several other similar groups such as Panun Kashmir, Kashmiri Samiti Delhi, All India Kashmiri Samaj, Panun Kashmiri Movement and Jammu Kashmir Vichar Manch will stage a protest at Jantar Mantar on Sunday morning against what they call an attempt to communalise the land transfer issue.
The Kashmir cabinet in March allotted 40 hectares of forest land in Baltal in north Kashmir to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) for providing facilities to pilgrims. SASB chief executive Arun Kumar, who was transferred Saturday, kicked a row by saying the board was going to make concrete structures on the allotted land which now had its proprietorship.
also see
Amarnath land row: BJP, VHP nationwide bandh affects normal life
indiatoday.digitaltoday.in/ …
Agitation will continue till land is returned: Khajuria
www.hindu.com …
Bandh hits Jammu hard
The Statesman, India – 30 Jun 2008
news.google.co …
Jammu burns, curfew in many areas
www.tribuneindia.com …
Shutdown cripples life in Chhattisgarh
www.thaindian.com …
Cong action on Amarnath will have a backlash: BJP
www.kashmirlive.com …
In Kerala
Routine life was affected in the state as it joined the nationwide protests called by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) against the Jammu and Kashmir government’s decision to revoke its order on land allotment to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB).
Private transport was off the roads and Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) operated a few services with police protection. Educational institutions and shops were closed.
(IANS)
Bandh call by BJP: life paralysed in Assam
Guwahati, July 3 Normal life was paralysed today with sporadic incidents of violence reported from some parts of Assam following the nationwide bandh called by the BJP and supported by VHP over the Amarnath land transfer issue.
Official sources said here that incidents of roadblocks, stone pelting and burning of vehicles were reported from different parts of the state including the capital city of Guwahati.
Bandh supporters attacked vehicles in Lower Assam districts of Kokrajhar and Barpeta while stone pelting on shops and vehicles were reported from both Upper and Lower Assam districts.
All shops, business and commercial establishments remained shut while schools and colleges were having their summer vacation.
Most banks and other financial institutions and private organisations were closed while attendance in government offices was thin.
Vehicles remained off the road with long-distance buses and trucks stranded along National Highway 31.
There were also reports of VHP activists forcibly shutting shops in several areas of Guwahati.
Jammu: Women, children join street protests against Govt
Life in Kashmir valley may have been gradually limping back to normalcy but in Jammu region, the ongoing agitation against Ghulam Nabi Azad-led minority Government which revoked the land transfer order to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) is spreading fast to other districts.
On Wednesday, curfew was imposed .. Women and children joined street protests at a number of places against the State Government. .. Violent clashes also broke out between two groups in Bhaderwah town of Doda district following which curfew was clamped in Bhaderwah. .. Large number of donkeys decorated with garlands of shoes and tagged as PDP leaders were paraded in main markets by protesters to show their anger in Samba.
Party offices of Kashmir-based political parties and toll tax post in Lakhanpur, the gateway to Jammu and Kashmir were also attacked by angry protesters in Kathua and Samba districts. Motorcycle and scooter rallies were taken out by BJP workers in RSPura, Brahi Brahmana, Bisnah. Pilgrims in Katra base camp of Vaishno Devi faced lot of hardships in the absence of adequate transport facilities. The pilgrims were provided refreshment by local social organisations in view of the total shutdown. ..
Silent campaign against Cong
Jammu: Large number of people who could not join street protests and shout anti-Government slogans for variety of reasons ran silent campaigns giving vent to their anger in Jammu.
A strongly worded message is in circulation in Jammu. The message reads, “Instead of submitting their resignations these Congress Ministers have given us bullets, lathis and curfew. Congress leaders have stabbed us in the back. Boycott them and spread the word”.
The message is being forwarded by like-minded people to built anti-Congress campaign ahead of crucial Assembly poll which sums up the mood of the common man on the street. Wherever you go, people are seen debating the conduct of the Jammu-based Congress Ministers who silently gave their consent and sided with the decision of Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to revoke the land transfer order.
The supporters of these Congress Ministers are asking uncomforting questions to their leaders but receiving no responses.
As many as 75 persons were injured, three with bullet injuries, as protesters clashed with the police at several places during the Jammu bandh called by the BJP and like-minded parties. Curfew has been imposed at various places in the city.
.. Firing also took place at Muthi, where three persons received bullet injuries. The injured, identified as Vikramjit Sharma (29), Chunilal (36) and Ramesh Chadra Dubay, were shifted to Government Medical College Hospital, where their condition is said to be critical. The cops, who received injuries, were taken to nearby military hospital. Condition of one of them is critical.
On Jammu-Akhnoor road, unruly crowd tried to stop vehicular traffic, said eyewitnesses. The mob later caught hold of the some police personnel and threw their service rifle in a stream.
“We were holding peaceful demonstration and as we tried to stop the vehicular traffic on the road, the police fired at us in which three of our men were critically injured,” said Satish Kumar, a local resident.
As the report of police firing spread across the city, people in large number came out of their house to join the protest. K. Rajindera, IGP Jammu range, said the police fired at protesters in “self defence.”
“The mob has totally outnumbered the police. They attacked the police party with stones and even snatched the service rifle of the policemen and beat them up. Half a dozen policemen were injured.” Rajindera said.
Later in the day, Panters Party chairman Bhim Singh visited the injured in the hospital. He condemned the police action against the protesters and demanded removal of the state government. “Police firing on protesters is state terrorism,” he said.
