Agitators reach accord over Amarnath land

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JAMMU, Aug 31 – At least 28 people were today injured when police used batons and fired teargas shells to disperse crowds which defied curfew and broke barricades to take part in a ‘victory’ rally in Jammu city after signing of an accord on the Amarnath land issue, reports PTI. Authorities had imposed curfew in Jammu, Udhampur, Kathua, Poonch, Samba and Kishtwar and deployed the army in the entire city to prevent the march called by Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangrash Samiti which suspended its two-month long agitation after the government allowed the Amarnath Shrine Board to use the land in Kashmir during the yatra period. People defied the curfew at dozens of places and broke through police barricades and barbed wire fencing put up by the army to march towards MAM Stadium – the venue of the ‘Vijay Rally’, police said. Fierce clashes erupted in Parade, Purani Mandi, Canal Road, Jewel Chowk, KC Morh, Janipur, Gangyal, Tallab Tilloo and Shakti Nagar, Residency road areas of city, with police, army, Rapid Action Force (RAF) and CRPF personnel resorting to teargas shelling and cane-charge on protesters, including women and children. Irate over the police action, people resorted to heavy stone pelting and clashed with police in which over 25 people and three police personnel were injured. “Fifteen persons were hospitalised and other were discharge after first aid,” police said. “We have imposed curfew to stop people from assembling and taking part in the major rally in view of intelligence reports of presence of some militants in Jammu,” district’s Deputy Commissioner Mandeep K Bhandari said. Militants can use this occasion to trigger violence, he said.“Fierce clashes have taken place in Jewel Chowk, Canal Road, Purani Mandi and Saint Peters areas in the city,” police sources said adding people chanting ‘Bum Bum Bolay’ were staging sit-ins at several places . “We did not allow people to reach to MAM Stadium – the venue of the rally. Strict orders had been passed by Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Jammu to take all measures to quell the mobs,” they said. Bhandari said about three to four lakh people were expected to converge for the rally. Authorities had urged the Samiti to call off the march as there were fears that militants were present in the outskirts of the city who could be a threat to the rally, he added. “There is a security concern and that is why curfew was the only alternative,” Bhandari added. Senior Superintendent of Police, Jammu, Manohar Singh said that a man had reported entry of two militants in his house at Sangh Talab area of Raipur-Domana in the outskirts of the city. Army and police have launched an operation to track down militants and the entire area has been cordoned off, he said. The 64-day long agitation ended here today following signing of an agreement between SAYSS and the Governor’s panel headed by S S Bloeria under which the shrine board has been given 40 hectares of land for exclusive use by Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) for the period of yatra. source: assam tribune

Whose Interest, This?

Tavleen Singh
Last week, the city of Jammu was put under curfew to control Hindu protestors. Jammu is largely a Hindu city whose Hindu population includes Hindu refugees who fled from Kashmir when the violence began in the early nineties. They oppose the decision of the Government of Jammu & Kashmir to take back the land it offered for the use of pilgrims during the Amarnath Yatra. The Government was coerced into changing its mind by several days of Muslim protests in the streets of Srinagar. The protests drew more people into the streets than we have seen for a long while. Muslims were so angered by the decision to allow ‘forest land’ to be used by Hindu pilgrims that the People’s Democratic Party, which is one half of the ruling coalition in Kashmir, threatened to withdraw from the Government rather than be party to the decision. The Congress party is the other half of the coalition and it did not take Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad long to back down.The media is mostly leftist in our ancient land and too politically correct to point out when Muslim hysteria is guided by Islamist ideology. So, almost nobody has mentioned that the protests against the facilities for Hindu pilgrims were out of proportion, hysterical and anti-Hindu. Governments across India go out of their way to facilitate Muslims going annually off on their Haj. There are Haj houses in nearly all our major towns where Muslim pilgrims can stay for almost no cost. The Haj is itself subsidized by the state. Keeping this in mind, it is an outrage that Hindu pilgrims should not be provided minimum facilities when they go on the Amarnath Yatra. If it were a case of forest land being given permanently to Hindu pilgrims, there would be cause for protest but this was not what happened, according to former Jammu & Kashmir Governor Lt General SK Sinha. In an interview to the 'Indian Express', he said, ‘No permanent constructions were to come up in the camps. The ownership of the land was not transferred to the Board. And it was only a diversion of land for two months in a year.’Nobody should have any objections but objections there are and in the view of your proudly politically incorrect columnist, these objections have taken the form of mass hysteria now because the Government of Dr Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi has gone out of its way to woo Muslims by creating a general sense of grievance. Two examples will suffice. The first is the setting up of the Sachar Committee in the first few months of the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) Government coming to power in Delhi. The Sachar Committee toured the country finding aggrieved Muslims and when it published its findings, it deepened the Muslim sense of grievance by showing them as an underclass everywhere. The report did not analyse why this was the case. Had it done so, it would have noticed that any community that prevents the education of the girl child will end up badly. Muslim backwardness is more to do with not educating girls than poverty. This is true also of those Hindu castes and communities that discourage the education of girls. In the way the UPA Government has dealt with the major terrorist attacks that have occurred on its watch, we see an example of pandering to Islamism. The terrorist attacks have been perpetrated by Islamist groups from Pakistan and Bangladesh with local Muslims lending shelter and support. Hundreds of innocent people have lost their lives in these attacks but to this day neither the Prime Minister, Sonia Gandhi or any other senior member of the UPA have come out with a full condemnation of Islamism. The signal the police get is that there are political reasons for them not being allowed to go all out to catch the killers. So the police works to rule and nobody gets caught.Islamism is so politically acceptable in India that the Islamists have gone from strength to strength in the promotion and spread of their evil ideology. It is an ideology based on terrible tenets as the famous British author, Ian McEwan, pointed out recently in an interview to the Italian newspaper, Corriere Della Sera. “And I myself despise Islamism’ he said ‘because it wants to create a society that I detest, based on religious beliefs, on a text, on lack of freedom for women, intolerance towards homosexuality and so on……Islamism, in most of its manifestations, not only wants to kill me, it wants to kill you.’Our South Asian Islamists have publicly stated on more than one occasion that their objective is to turn India from being a land of happy heathens to one in which Islamism prevails. The weak-kneed, dithering response of the UPA Government to this threat has encouraged Islamist groups to believe that their nightmare scenario will come to happen. Kashmir’s ‘azadi’ movement, which started at the end of the eighties, had nothing to do with religion but if you looked at the mobs in Srinagar streets, you would have seen that the women were all in ‘burkhas’ and the men nearly all bearded. The ‘azadi’ movement has been transformed into something else altogether. To fight Islamism, we need a Prime Minister in Delhi who can take firm decisions.Do I think this is going to happen before the next general election? No. source: sentinel assam editorial 07.07.08

CPM demotes Muslim MP for Umrah

As per the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) brand of 'secularism', backing Muslims on the Amarnath shrine land transfer issue is the order of things. But when it comes to allowing a party MP from the same community to practice his religious beliefs, the knives are brought out against him.

The CPM has censured and demoted its Kerala MP Abdullah Kutty for travelling to Mecca for performing Umrah two weeks ago. The young MP from Kannur, who went to Mecca in the first week of June, invited the wrath of the party's State unit for "defying" the party's ideology.

The district committee took disciplinary against him on June 19 and demoted him to a simple member in the local committee. Prior to the action against him, Kutty was an area committee member.

Incidentally, the party first "charge-sheeted" him for having performed the religious ceremony in Mecca. Later, conscious of the fact that the decision could invite backlash from the Muslim community, the party claimed Kutty was punished for delivering a speech against bandhs and hartals.

But talking to The Pioneer over phone, Kutty said: "Disciplinary action was initiated against me after I returned from Mecca. The so-called controversial speech is an old issue anyway. A number of leaders had aired the same view on bandhs and hartals."

He added, "The timing of the party's disciplinary action against me has made people believe that I have been convicted for performing Umrah. But the party denies that the action was caused by my having undertaken the religious trip."

Kutty refused to comment further, saying, "I am a dedicated party member and can't clarify all your queries since I have been censured."

Party insiders feel that Kutty has been penalised by CPI(M)'s State secretary and Politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan for his allegiance to the rival faction, led by Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan. source: http://www.indiannotion.com/index.php/newslinks/18094

Curfew continues to be in force in Jammu

Curfew continues to be in force in Jammu
5 Jul, 2008, 1228 hrs IST, PTI

JAMMU: Curfew remained in force today in Jammu and towns of Bhaderwah, Samba and Kathua, officials said.
There was no fresh incident of violence or defying the curfew restrictions reported from these areas, they said.

Curfew was imposed in some parts of Jammu city on July 1 after protesters demanding cancellation of land transfer order to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board clashed with police and indulged in stone pelting on vehicles.

It was later extended to the whole city when protesters defied curfew and held demonstrations at different places.

Curfew was also imposed in Bhaderwah and Samba on July 2 and in Kathua on July 3 following incidents of violence and clashes between police and the demonstrators.

Senior civil and police officers were closely monitoring the situation, the officials said, adding that relaxation may be considered for varying periods to enable people to buy essential things.

Police, CRPF and Rapid Action Force (RAF) have been deployed to maintain law and order here, they said.

Different yardsticks for Hindus and Muslims, allege Jammu bodies

Different yardsticks for Hindus and Muslims, allege Jammu bodies
Agencies
Posted online: July 04, 2008 at 1556

Despite the fact that the shrine board had offered to pay Rs 2.43 crore for constructing temporary pre-fabricated huts for the pilgrims, the chief minister reversed the government order, the Sangharsh Samiti said.

Jammu, July 4: Various political and social organisations spearheading the present agitation in Jammu alleged that Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad is adopting different yardsticks for Muslims and Hindus in the state.

"Azad succumbed to the pressure of secessionists on cancellation of land transfer order to Amarnath shrine board, ignoring the faith of crores of Hindus," said L K Sharma, convenor of the Sangarsh Samiti, a conglomeration of various political and social bodies.

Despite the fact that the shrine board had offered to pay Rs 2.43 crore for constructing temporary pre-fabricated huts for the pilgrims, the chief minister reversed the government order, he said.

Sharma said Azad had provided free government land for setting up Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University and Islamic University in the state, but not for Mata Vaishno Devi University set up near Katra.

"This clearly shows that the government is adopting different yardsticks for Muslims and Hindus," he alleged.
editor@expressindia.com

4 die in violence during ‘Bharat bandh’

BJP says it will continue its agitation till its demand for the transfer of land to the board is met

NEW DELHI: Violence marred the ‘Bharat bandh’ called by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad to protest against the non-transfer of land to the Amarnath Shrine Board. Four died in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, where agitators set cars and buses ablaze and clashed with the police.

The BJP said it would continue its agitation till its demand for the transfer of land to the board was met. Protest rallies are being planned in various state and district capitals from July 4 to 11. Party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said: “Nearly half of Jammu and Kashmir is occupied by Pakistan and huge chunks have been grabbed by China. What is the problem with giving a few acres of land to the Shrine Board?”

Bill boards outside the party’s central office said that “100 crore Hindustanis will not beg for 100 acres of land” and “BJP will not tolerate insult to devotees of Lord Shiva.”

The response to the ‘bandh’ call was partial in most states with shops in some areas voluntarily downing shutters, while in others groups of BJP workers forced them to shut down. Train services were affected in several places.

In Uttar Pradesh, the Shatabdi Express was stopped at Agra Cantonment, the Ahmedabad-Varanasi Sabarmati Express at Orai and the Howrah-Dehradun Express at Mughalsarai, each for a few minutes. More than 50 BJP workers were arrested in and around Lucknow, while in Delhi senior BJP leaders, including Venkaiah Naidu, participated in the protests.

In West Bengal, the ‘bandh’ had little impact, but in Kerala the State-run transport services were partially withdrawn after incidents of stone pelting and in several places protesters blocked highways.

In Karnataka, the response was mixed – while in Bangalore life remained near normal with schools and business offices open as usual, in some districts of Mangalore, Hubli-Dharwad, Udupi and Mysore, bus services came to a halt and business activities shut down. No major untoward incidents were reported barring stone pelting in a few places.

In Maharashtra, VHP supporters reportedly halted traffic on some major roads in North Mumbai causing traffic snarls and delaying office-goers. The police later dispersed the protesters.

Normal life was affected in parts of Punjab with the police using their canes to disperse crowds. Road and train traffic was affected in Ludhiana and Bhatinda and in Ambala protesters burnt effigies.

In Gujarat, a BJP-ruled state, life was near normal. Mr. Javadekar said the State would register its protest another day as Jagannath yatras were being taken out at 21 places on Thursday.

Fresh violence
Jammu Staff Reporter writes:

There was no let-up in the violent scenes and blood-letting in Jammu on Thursday.
Sixty five people, including a large number of police personnel, were injured in fresh protests against the cancellation of the order transferring land to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board. Army carried out flag marches in curfew bound areas.

Protesters continued to defy the indefinite curfew orders in several areas. Police personnel who tried to implement the curfew earned the wrath of the protesters.

Kathua district, the gateway to the State, was the scene of massive protests. Protesters attacked the vehicles of districts officers. In Lakhanpur town of Kathua district — which borders Madopur area of Punjab — demonstrators set ablaze a toll post where entry tax on goods is collected. In the same district, a police post was also burnt.

On a request from the district administration, the Army carried out a flag march in Kathua town. Rail traffic was also affected in Kathua. Traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar road was blocked, as protesters gathered at Samba, Udhampur and Nagrota.

There were fresh attacks on the properties of Congress leaders. Congress leader Mula Ram’s house was attacked. But the police posted there managed to disperse the crowd.

Around ten police personnel were injured in a number of places in Jammu city when they tried to disperse crowds of protesters. Mobs attacked a police party in sector 2 of Durga Nagar.

A few Congress activists of the region joined the protests on Thursday. Jai Singh, a Municipal corporator belonging to the Congress, came out with scores of his supporters defying curfew orders.

A group of social activists, lawyers , political leaders and academicians issued a joint appeal to the people and the leaders of the agitation to realise that the secular tradition and identity of Jammu was its real strength, which one cannot afford to weaken. source: http://www.hindu.com/2008/07/04/stories/2008070456431200.htm

Congress had "ditched" "humiliated Hindus"

Jammu shutdown extended till July 6

Indo-Asian News Service Jammu, July 03, 2008

Rejecting Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad's appeal, protesters Thursday evening decided to extend the Jammu shutdown till July 6 to press their demand for restoration of land allotment to the Amarnath shrine management.

"We will continue our protest shutdown till July 6," said Leela Karan, chairman of the Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti.

He said the Congress government had "ditched" the people of Jammu and "humiliated Hindus" by revoking the May 26 cabinet order, which had granted 40 hectares of forest land in north Kashmir to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) for setting up pilgrim facilities.

Various groups supporting the shutdown call and demanding restoration of land to the shrine board, rejected the chief minister's appeal for peace.

Azad earlier told a hurriedly convened press conference that the government decision was not "succumbing to pressure from terrorists or separatists".
He said the government would acquire as much land as needed to provide facilities to the pilgrims visiting the cave shrine of Amarnath.

Describing it as a "win-win situation", he said this was a reason for celebrations for one and all, but regretted that politics of inciting communal passions was on to gain political mileage.
However, Shiv Sena leader Shamsher Singh said: "All this is eyewash. We reject this. He should restore the land to the shrine board, the rest is misleading propaganda." source: http://www.hindustantimes.com

Kashmiri Hindus protest against Jammu firing : kashmirlive

Aastha Manocha Posted online: July 03, 2008 at 1135

Kashmiri Hindus protested in the national capital on the police action against those protesting against the revocation of the Amarnath shrine board land order, in Jammu.

New Delhi, July 3: Kashmiri Hindus from various organisations protested in the national capital on Wednesday evening on the police action against those protesting against the revocation of the Amarnath shrine board land order, in Jammu.

They alleged that the J&K government has different policies for Hindus and Muslims as it did not impose curfew in Kashmir even after eight days of violence and mayhem yet the very first day of protests saw police beating, shelling and firing at protestors in Jammu.

The protestors were especially angry over the targeting of the Kashmiri Hindu camps in Jammu in the crackdown over the protestors.

Traffic in Delhi was blocked for about an hour at rush hour and central Delhi seemed to have stood still with no traffic movement at all. The crowd swelled due to the fact that the local onlookers too joined the protests to burn tyres and shout slogans.

According to reports, curfew has been extended to new areas in Jammu and around 100 people were injured in clashes with the police.
editor@expressindia.com source: kashmirlive.com