Aspiration of Jammu

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— Sant Kumar Sharma
The simmering anger that has manifested itself on the Jammu streets since the beginning of this month is the culmination of the region’s perceived “neglect and dominance by the Kashmir Valley.”Not many may truly understand the reason for the intense violence, the chukka jams and the women protests in an otherwise peaceful Jammu region. Right since Independence, the State of Jammu and Kashmir has posed problems for the Indian nation These problems arose because the State did not become a part of the Union on August 15,1947, but on October 26,1947.The genesis of what is called the Kashmir problem can be traced back to the events that happened between these two dates. The erstwhile Maharaja of Kashmir Hari Singh signed the document of accession with India on October 26, after Pakistani intruders killed his subjects mercilessly in Mirpur, Muzzafarabad, Kotli and marched from Baramulla towards Srinagar.Today, the nomenclature the Kashmir problem as we know it is misleading and does not help. Kashmir as a shorthand for describing J&K creates its own problems as it excludes the regions of Jammu– and Ladakh altogether. It also excludes the areas of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK), Gilgit, Baltistan and Hunza etc (collectively called the Northern Areas) which were a part of the State of J&K on August 14, 1947.The Kashmiri separatist leaders, including the moderate Hurriyat Conference leader Mirwaiz Moulvi Omar Farooq, readily admit that it is not the Kashmir Valley (comprising an area of only 15,948 sq kms) alone which is the bone of contention. The Jammu region spans over 26,293 sq kms, Ladakh (comprising Leh and Kargil districts) is over 80,000 sq kms, but has a very small population. Thus, the State of J&K (on August 14, 1947) ruled by the Maharaja was over 2,22,000 sq kms.The genesis of the, immediate problem is the revocation of the land transfer order by the State Forest Department to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB). The Jammu region erupted in flames subsequent to the State Government cancelling the “diversion of land to the SASB,” apparently to quell the fires then raging in the Kashmir Valley against this May 26 order.However, as the agitation in Kashmir died, it gave birth to a counter-agitation in Jammu. The Government failed to communicate to the people of Jammu that the land order did not confer propriety rights to the SASB- in respect of the 800 kanals of land “diverted for use during the yatra. “ Worse, it failed to scotch rumours and educate the masses that the SASB was getting the land only for use during the yatra.”Leading to Jammu interpreting the revocation of the order as the Government bowing before the separatists in the Valley. And an affront to the religious sentiments of the Hindus in the State. The region comprises 10 districts of which Jammu and Kathua are Hindu-majority areas. In Udhampur too, the number of Hindus is fairly high and in the other eight districts the two communities live together and the population ratio varies widely.Besides, with people of other religions like Sikhs and Christians also present in fairly large numbers, the Jammu region has been, by and large, secular. People of different ethnicities, religions and linguistic groups have continued to settle here, right since 1947. Successive waves of migrants settled in the Capital city of Jammu and other areas in 1947, 1965, 1971, 1990 (Kashmiri Pundits) and 1999 (border migrants after the Kargil war).The Dogras embraced successive migrants with open arms, often much to their own detriment. The land prices have sky-rocketed, infrastructure is under strain and competition for jobs and education intense. The Kashmiri Muslims have also constructed houses and bought properties in Jammu, mainly because they feel safer here than Kashmir. Their children study in Jammu schools and tuition centres, without feeling threatened.There have been no communal clashes in Jammu or its periphery, even after grave provocations like attacks on the symbol of Dogra pride and culture, the venerated Raghunath temple, in 2002. It is a tribute to the secular ethos of the region that the counter-attack to kill those who had intruded into the temple was led by the then Jammu SSP Farooq Khan. Even as the encounter continued and the militants were felled, there were no reports of any communal clashes anywhere. Besides, a majority of Jammuites see India as their motherland. This is in sharp contrast to a section of Kashmiris, who repeatedly challenge the accession of J&K to India on October 26, 1947.The people of Jammu believe they made sacrifices for the Indian nation. When militancy broke out in the Valley in 1990, several Dogra officers were posted in Kashmir. A fairly large number of policemen who died while fighting the militants in Kashmir were Dogras, including Pahari Muslims from Poonch and Rajouri, besides the Doda district. Despite this, the Dogras believe that they are taken for granted by both the State and Central Governments which always make policies aimed at “appeasing the separatists in Kashmir.”This perceived “loading the dice in favour of the Kashmiris” is something the Jammuites strongly resent. Especially against the backdrop that the region is bigger than the Valley. While the total number of voters in Jammu stood at 30,91,193, the number of voters in Kashmir was 29,86,670 in 2002. Yet, the region had only 37 seats in the State Assembly as opposed to 46 for the Kashmir Valley. Adding insult to injury, while the Valley sends three MPs to the Lok Sabha Jammu has to suffice with two MPs.This political imbalance of having more voters but getting, to elect fewer legislators (both MLAs and MPs) due to a skewed delimitation of constituencies is something the Jammu people now want a change in. They want fresh delimitation of constituencies leading to a more equitable leading power-sharing arrangement. Besides, they also want higher representation in the State Government services which as presently are heavily tilted in favour of the people from the Valley. At another level, the Valley consumes more electricity than Jammu. The target set by the Government for collection (during 2007-08) was Rs 519 crore and Rs 417 crore, respectively. While the collection from Jammu was Rs 443 crore only Rs 246 crore were collected from the Valley. 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

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

More protests over Kashmir land

Hindus have held more protests in India against a decision not to transfer land to a Hindu shrine organisation in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Four people died in Indore, in Madhya Pradesh, when police opened fire during clashes between Hindus and Muslims, officials say.

They say that another person was badly injured in other clashes in the state.
There were also violent clashes between protesters and police for a fourth day in the Hindu-majority region of Jammu.

A curfew remains in place in the area - in the southern part of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The state government rescinded its decision to grant land along a Hindu pilgramage route to the Amarnath Shrine board after several days of protests by sections of Kashmir's majority Muslim community.

Correspondents say that efforts by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party for a country-wide protest over the issue met with a relatively muted response.

In Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, strike supporters shut down transport and businesses. Some roads were blocked, cars were smashed and trains disrupted.

"The response to the strike shows the anger of the people against the government's attack on secular fabric of the country," Prakash Javdekar, a senior BJP leader, told the Reuters news agency in Delhi. source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7487609.stm

Land and blood

The independence campaign flares up in a row about land for Hindu pilgrims

FIRE crackers and scattered cheering dotted the night on July 2nd in Srinagar, as Kashmiris celebrated a rare victory over the Indian government. Hours earlier, after a week of popular and violent protests, Kashmir’s government had rescinded a gift of protected-forest land to Hindu pilgrims. In response, local Muslim separatists called off the protests they had organised. But after this triumph, which followed a year or so of relative calm in the troubled valley, fresh agitation seems likely.

Indeed, it may well spread beyond Kashmir and go national. On July 1st India’s main opposition, the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), called for a nationwide strike to put pressure on the state government—which, like India’s central government, is a coalition led by the Congress party—to reverse its reversal. Sticking up for Hindu pilgrims—hundreds of thousands of whom flock to a cave in Kashmir each year to pay homage to a giant icicle they revere as an incarnation of the god Shiva—is staple fare for the BJP. So is sticking it to uppity Muslims.

As BJP leaders issued their call in Delhi, 80 people were injured in rioting by Hindu activists in Jammu, the southern, mainly-Hindu, part of India’s only Muslim-majority state. With a general election due by next May and Congress in trouble on the back of soaring inflation and other woes, the contretemps is a godsend for the BJP.

It is also handy for Kashmir’s separatist leaders. The 19-year-old freedom fight has cost over 40,000 lives, by the Indian army’s count, and at least twice that by the separatists’; but the current death-rate, at a bit under 100 a month, is at an all-time low. That, and internal feuding, has taken the wind out of the separatist movement.

Fighting has flagged partly because Pakistan, which like India holds part of the historic kingdom of Jammu & Kashmir and claims all of it, has greatly reduced its former support to the insurgents. At the same time, Kashmiris seem increasingly resigned to the status quo. Some still hanker after the accession to Pakistan they feel was their due at partition in 1947; probably a greater number want outright independence. But many feel they have lost the battle. Turnout in local elections, which the separatists boycott, is increasing. By rallying support for their cause, separatist leaders may hope to dent turnout at the next state election, due by November.

Hence the vigour with which they pounced on the government’s decision to grant 99 acres (40 hectares) of land to a Hindu body that manages the icicle pilgrimage. This, it was explained, was to help provide temporary shelter for more than 400,000 devotees who visit the icicle shrine, a cave at Amarnath in south Kashmir, each year. Yet the separatist chiefs preferred to see it as a brazen effort by the government to shift Hindus into the Muslim-dominated Kashmir valley.

Thousands agreed. Beginning on June 29th, the state capital, Srinagar, and the rest of the valley saw their biggest protests since the early-1990s, when the insurgency was at its height. Five people were killed and hundreds injured in clashes between the army and stone-throwing youths. In this time of strife, two of the biggest of Kashmir’s many separatist factions, split over whether to negotiate with the government, were reported to have reunited.

Also on June 29th, after noting which way the wind was blowing, Congress’s main local ally, the People’s Democratic Party, quit the state government. Reduced to a minority, Congress is now looking for other allies to help it to hobble through to the polls later this year. The gleeful separatists are meanwhile plotting protests against the occupation of vast tracts of Kashmir by the army.

It may not stop there. Defying an unofficial curfew and a tear-gas bombardment by soldiers nearby, several thousand men gathered in Srinagar’s main mosque on July 1st. Despite a dozen huge green Pakistani flags hoisted above the throng, the speeches they heard, from local religious and political leaders, were mainly for independence. “The land-transfer deal has brought so many issues to light,” said one congregant, a local university professor. “In Kashmir, people are angry.” source: http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11671155

Jammu areas burn as protests continue

About eighty persons, including 15 police personnel received injures at various places in J&K, while a mob of five hundred Shiv Sainiks and activists of BJP attacked a police party in Durga Nagar on Jammu Bantalab road in the outskirts of Jammu city..

A MOB set a police vehicle on fire at Sector 2, Durga Nagar area of Bantalab on Thursday afternoon. Sources said that protesters at Muthi attacked the house of Congress minister Mula Ram. However, police guards posted there barred them from going inside.

Sources quoting eyewitnesses said that a group of Sena activists threw stones on police at various places, opposing revocation of land transfer to Amarnath Shrine Board.

The situation in Bantalab area of Jammu remained tense as a protesting mob attacked police vehicle and set it on fire. In an hour-long battle between police and protesting Hindu activists, about 20 persons, including five police personal were injured. The police also detained dozens of protesters from the area. Police fired dozens of tear gas shells to disperse the crowd, but the vehicle was completely gutted and the driver was given a severe thrashing by the mob.

A heavy contingent of Rapid Action Force was reportedly called in the area. More than five old Kashmiri Pandit ladies were injured when police opened fire and burst teargas shells inside their homes. This was done when police was unable to control the protesters so they attacked the ladies in their houses in Sector 2 of Durga Nagar area.

In Bantalab, a group of protesting activists of various Hindu organisations damaged a building owned by former militant and Member of Legislative Council (MLC) late Javed Shah, which houses government middle school.

“Activists of BJP and Shiv Sena barged into the house of a Hindu Hurriyat leader, Sharma in Nanak Nagar area and ransacked it,” sources informed, adding pitched battles were fought between police and protesters in other parts of the city.

Dozens of persons were also reported to have been injured in separate areas of Jammu, where protesters threw stones despite imposition of curfew and section 144. As per reports about ten persons, including a driver have been injured in police-public clashes.

Reports from Kathua, Samba, Udhampur, Ramban, Bhaderwah, Kishtwar, Poonch and Rajouri said pitched battles between police and the protesting Sena and BJP activists were reported.
Meanwhile, police opened fire and burst teargas shells to quell workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena, who demonstrated at various places across the state today. Source: http://india.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=136947

Jammu civil society jointly appeals for peace

Jammu civil society jointly appeals for peace

Kashmir WatchJammu, July 3: On behalf of 16 citizens of Jammu, Balraj Puri, social activist and Padam Bhushan awardee has appealed to the people of Jammu and the leaders of the current agitation, to realize that the secular tradition and identity of Jammu is its real strength which we cannot afford to weaken. Mr Balraj Puri said that in fact, we should try to enlist the support of all the communities for a struggle against all long pending grievances of the region and for status of regional equality in all spheres. "We should also be conscious of Jammu's vital role as a geo-political bridge between people of Kashmir and the rest of India. While people of Jammu have a right to protest against the leaders of Kashmir who whipped up popular sentiments and against the bungling of the coalition partners of the state government who were primarily responsible for the present turmoil, as good patriots we should not unwittingly contribute to weakening the role of Jammu as a bridge", Mr Puri said.Mr Puri also said that we urge the people and leaders of Jammu to realize the potentialities of disciplined and peaceful methods of struggle which can be sustained much longer and are more effective with far less damage, if at all, to the society than violent demonstrations. "
Accoring to Mr Puri the joint appeal has been signed by the following Jammu civil society dignitories:
Balraj Puri
Padam Shri Prof Ram Nath Shastri
Prof. MR Puri , Former Vice Chancellor Jammu University
Prof. Zahuruddin
Sardar Sukhdev Singh, President Gurudawara Parbandhak Committee District Jammu
Prof. Lalit Mangotra President Dogri Santha
Abdul Majid President Jammu Muslim Federation
Prof. Rekha CHowdhary. Dr.RK Zutshi (Principal GMC (Rtd.)
Istiaq Kazmi President Anajam Firog Urdu
Dr.Jai Kumar (Rtd Director Health Services)
Janak Raj Rathore former Chairman J&K Board of School Education
Jia Lal Kotwal Former Principal GGM College
D.P. Khajuria Ex President Dharamarth Trust
Shah Mohammad General Secretary Jammu and Kashmir Gujjar United Front Sardar Surinder Singh Akali Member Gurudwara Parbhandak Committee Ex-President Bar Association

Land row: Protests continue in curfew-bound Jammu

Land row: Protests continue in curfew-bound Jammu (Lead)

Jammu, July 3 (IANS) Angered by the cancellation of the land allotment order to a Hindu shrine board in Kashmir, some activists of the ruling Congress here Thursday defied curfew orders and took to the streets protesting against their own government’s decision. Earlier, curfew was extended to other parts of the tense Jammu region as angry mobs demanding allotment of the forest land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) set ablaze a few abandoned houses in a town, forcing the authorities to deploy the army at communally-sensitive places.

Thursday was the fourth day of agitations in Hindu-dominated Jammu, where people continue defying prohibitory orders to take out anti-government processions.

Jai Singh, a Municipal corporator of the ruling Congress, came out with scores of his supporters defying the curfew order. He denounced the government’s decision. Congress activists have also at other places joined the protests, largely sponsored by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).

Protests in Jammu were triggered after government Tuesday decided to cancel the land allotment to the SASB, ending a controversy but beginning another over an issue that has gained a communal edge.

Earlier on May 26, the government had allotted 40 hectares of forest land to the SASB, which organises the pilgrimage to the high altitude Amarnath cave shrine dedicated to Lord Shiva. The land, according to officials, was meant to create temporary facilities to the hundreds of thousands of Hindu pilgrims visiting the shrine every year.

The decision quietened the violent protests in the Muslim-dominated Kashmir Valley where five people were killed in alleged police firing last week.

But it led to violent demonstrations in Jammu where at least 80 people, including several police personnel, were injured in unrelenting protests since Monday against the cancellation. The authorities were forced to clamp indefinite curfew on Jammu since Tuesday evening.

Rail traffic was halted at Kathua for sometime Thursday morning, while protesters blocked traffic movement on the national highway near Samba, Udhampur and Nagrota.

Reports from Vijaypur, a town 30 km south of Jammu, where protesters stopped trains Wednesday evening, said an agitated mob set ablaze a few “kullas” (huts) of Gujjars, who are up in the mountains with their cattle these days.

According to a report from Banihal, a town 180 km north of Jammu on the Jammu-Srinagar highway, a few Amarnath pilgrims were allegedly pulled out of their vehicles and beaten by some people, who also misbehaved with women pilgrims.

The BJP and the VHP have called for a nationwide strike Thursday to protest the cancellation order.

Authorities here claim they were trying to bring the situation under control.

“We are trying our best to keep the situation under control,” divisional commissioner, Jammu, the highest civilian officer of the province, told media.

“Every one is concerned over the situation. We are determined to protect the properties and lives of all citizens.”

Even in the few parts of Jammu not under curfew, normal life remained paralysed with people holding protests and demanding restoration of the land to the shrine board.

Some of the BJP leaders have either been held or kept under house arrest to prevent their participation in protests.

BJP’s state unit president Ashok Khajuria is under house arrest, while former president Nirmal Singh, and party spokesperson Romesh Arora were held while marching with protesters.
Women protesters have come out in large numbers in the border towns of Samba, Vijaypur, Bishnah and Ranbirsingh Pora raising religious slogans.

Angry protesters have rejected all appeals from the government to calm down.
“This is a government of Islamic fundamentalists, and we are not going to call off our agitation because (Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi) Azad says so,” said Ramesh Kumar, a student leader who led protests in Jammu’s walled city.

“We will continue with our agitation till the government restores the land to the shrine board.”

Over 60 injured in Jammu violence

Jammu, July 3 (PTI) In stepped-up violence, over 60 people, including 15 cops, were injured and more than 110 activists of various groups arrested, as protesters defied curfew orders, clashed with police at many places and torched several vehicles in Jammu region over the Amarnath land revocation row.Curfew was extended to Lakhanpur town today after protesters burnt an inter-state toll post there. Nearly 5,000 demonstrators barged into the toll post, clashed with police and CRPF personnel, who resorted to teargas shelling and baton charge, official sources told PTI.They set afire the post and went berserk, damaging dozens of vehicles at Lakhanpur town of Kathua district.A police post was also set afire at Hatli in Kathua where over people, including 10 cops, were injured in teargas shelling and stone pelting. Over 40 people were arrested.In Jammu, defying curfew orders, over 6,000 people gathered at Bantalab and marched towards city. However, police fired teargas shells and baton charged to disperse them.The All Party Migrant Coordination Committee -- a conglomeration of 16 social, trade and political organisations of displaced Kashmiri Pandits -- also led protests and fought pitched battles with police resulting in the injuring of 12 people, including three cops.Protesters also pelted stoned at the house of Congress minister Moula Ram and broke window panes. Over 17 people were injured and 48 arrested in Jammu district, police said. PTI

BJP claims a “wave of support” in Jammu

BJP claims a “wave of support” in Jammu
Special Correspondent the hindu
NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday claimed a “wave of support” in Jammu for its demand that the order revoking leasing of land to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board be cancelled.

The police fired on “peaceful protestors” in Jammu at “four places,” and in the Kashmir Valley, the State government and the Centre “kneeled before” separatists and fundamentalists by revoking the “legitimate” order on land transfer, BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.
Mr. Javadekar pointed out that the Ghulam Nabi Azad-led government had been reduced to a minority with the withdrawal of support by the People’s Democratic Party.

In the Centre too, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government was facing threat of withdrawal of support by Left parties.

Asked why the BJP was making a fuss now, when during NDA partner National Conference’s rule in Jammu and Kashmir, facilities were provided to pilgrims without transferring land to the shrine board, he said that at that time there was no proposal for transfer of land to the board.

Muslims were not against facilities being provided to those visiting the shrine. Only fundamentalists and separatists had created a dangerous situation in the Valley and the Centre had quietly caved in to their demands, he said.

The BJP expected a total “hartal” in the country on Thursday in response to a call given by it.

Panthers Party moves SC against revocation of land transfer

Thursday, 03 July , 2008, 20:37

New Delhi: The Supreme Court is likely to hear tomorrow a petition challenging the decision of the Jammu and Kashmir Government to revoke the transfer of land to Amarnath Shrine Board.
The petition, which was mentioned before a Bench headed by Justice Altamas Kabir for urgent hearing, sought quashing of state government's order revoking the transfer of 39.88 hectare of forest land to the Board contending that the decision was taken by the minority government which has been directed by the Governor to prove its majority on the floor of the House on July 7.

The petition filed by Prof Bhim Singh, chairman of J&K National Panthers Party, also alleged that the state government has imposed the curfew in Jammu without any logic which resulted in creating anarchy and leaving the people helpless.

The imposition of curfew has taken away the fundamental rights of school going children, patients and working class, the petition said.

The petition sought a direction for the Jammu and Kashmir Government to pay a compensation to the families of those killed and injured during police firing in different parts of the state during the recent protests. source: http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14708306

Centre closely monitoring situation in Jammu

New Delhi, July 3 (PTI) The Centre is closely monitoring the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and has also rushed in four companies of CRPF today for tackling increasing violence in the state over Amarnath land transfer issue.A spokesperson of CRPF, responsible for counter insurgency operations in the state, said four CRPF companies (nearly 400 personnel) have been sent to Jammu following fresh violence in the city.The Centre has also rushed a company of Rapid Action Force (RAF) to Indore in Madhya Pradesh after curfew was imposed in some areas of the city following a clash.Senior Home Ministry officials held a series of meetings besides talking to the state government officials to have a first-hand information about the situation in Jammu.Protesters halted trains, set afire vehicles and fought pitched battles with police at many places in Jammu region where 25 people were injured in fresh violence over the Amarnath land transfer revocation row.Shiv Sena activists barged into the house of a Hurriyat Conference leader and assaulted him as curfew clamped in several areas remained in force for the third day. PTI

‘Azad using money power to prove majority’

Statesman News Service
JAMMU, July 2: The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) launched another attack on chief minister Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad today, alleging he was using "money power" to save his government and prove his majority by 7 July. The PDP refused to rejoin the Congress-led minority government in Jammu and Kashmir, even after its demand for the revocation of land transfer to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board was accepted. “Azad and his cohorts are utilising all the undemocratic means, overtly and covertly, to manage numbers and there have been reports that besides various lucrative offers, even moneybags are being presented to legislators to shift their loyalties,” the PDP alleged in a written statement. Alleging that Mr Azad was already in the process of poaching legislators of various political parties to arrange the required numbers for himself, a PDP spokesman said against all numerical odds, the chief minister has said he has more than adequate numbers to prove his majority in the state legislate assembly. The PDP warned that in the presence of a strict anti-defection law, such unconstitutional tactics will set a severe blow to the hard-earned democratic institutions and processes in the state. The party, which apprehends the defection of some of its MLAs to the Congress, said Mr Azad, who was trumpeting the slogan of "war against corruption" has himself started resorting to the worst kind of political corruption to save his chair. “While the state's major political parties ~ the PDP, National Conference,Panthers Party and BJP have already made it clear that they are not going to support the chief minister during the vote of confidence, the only way Mr Azad could cobble up the numbers is through foul-play and horse-trading,” alleged the PDP. “Although Mr Azad could have succeeded in other parts of the country in making or breaking the governments through such dubious tactics, Jammu and Kashmir is entirely a different case and any move to subvert the democratic institutions here could have a disastrous political fallout," the PDP spokesman said. source: http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=2&theme=&usrsess=1&id=211298

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

VHP sees conspiracy behind land transfer row

Mumbai (PTI): The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Wednesday accused the Jammu and Kashmir and the Central governments of "conspiring" to stop Hindu pilgrimages and said the VHP will not allow that to happen in this country.

"The conspiracy is to stop the pilgrimage of Hindus in the name of preserving forest, mountain, sea shore and rivers", VHP leader Venkatesh Abdeo told reporters here today.

The Maharashtra unit of the VHP will join the nation-wide bandh on July 3 call given by its central leadership to protest against the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board land transfer issue in Jammu and Kashmir, Abedo said.

He said that if the Jammu and Kashimir government did not transfer the land to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, then the government should take away the Haj houses from the Muslims.
He also demanded immediate halt of Haj subsidy and all other facilities given to the Muslims.

VHP in the state also urged people to support the shutdown by keeping their businesses and offices closed. They have also requested the schools and colleges in the state to remain closed.
"People should also boycott all goods made in Kashmir as a sign of protest," Abdeo added.

For security of the Amarnath devotees and to protect the state of Jammu and Kashmir from Jehadi terrorists the government should immediately quash the special status given to the state under Article 370 and should impose military rule in the state," Abdeo said.

Abdeo further said revocation of grant of land in Amarnath was `tip of the iceberg', as the real conspiracy was to stop all the Hindu pilgrimages.

Mirwaiz hits out at right wing parties

Mirwaiz hits out at right wing parties
Srinagar (PTI): Expressing concern over the deteriorating situation in Jammu region, moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference on Thursday accused right wing parties like BJP, VHP and Bajrang Dal of giving a communal colour to it.

Its chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq said some parties with vested interests were targeting a particular community for vote bank politics.

"Some parties like BJP, VHP and Bajrang Dal are trying to give communal colour to the situation. We want to make it clear once again that Kashmiris are not against the Amarnath yatra and have been facilitating for several decades now," Mirwaiz told reporters here.

He said the agitators in the Jammu region should learn a lesson from their counterparts in the valley as none of the Amarnath pilgrims or tourists were harmed during the nine-day agitation against the land transfer order to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board.

"Our struggle has not been against any community or religion. It has been for our rights and our future. The land in question belongs to our brothers from Jammu as much as it belongs to people of Kashmir," the chairman said.

He also alleged that a conspiracy was being hatched to change the demographic character of Jammu and Kashmir by bringing in people from other states of the country and settle them here.

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

J & K unrest

The order of the Jammu and Kashmir government for transfer of 39.88 hectares of forest land to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) for construction of temporary sheds to accommodate the pilgrims led to Statewide protest and withdrawal of Peoples Democratic Party from the coalition government led by Gulam Nabi Azad of the Congress Party reducing the Azad Government to a minority. Bowing to public pressure, the J&K government has now revoked the land transfer order and also assumed full responsibility of organising the Amarnath Yatra, so long vested to the SAS Board since its creation. It was, in fact on the insistence of the then Governor of J&K, Lt Gen (rtd) SK Sinha, who acting as the Chairman of the SAS Board, pressurised the J K government to allot forest land to the Board that led to the communal divide in the sensitive State. Governor Sinha also pressurised the then Chief Minister Mufti Md. Sayeed to prolong the Amarnath pilgrimage from four to eight weeks which was rejected by the Chief Minister as about 40,000 security personnel were tied up in providing security to the pilgrims. This led to resignation of five Congress Ministers from Jammu. Therefore Governor Sinha’s partisan role had created the communal divide and he left the State burning. The new Governor, NK Vohra had a tough time in diffusing the situation by relinquishing the claim of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board to the forest land, paving the way for the State government to revoke the controversial order.The situation should have returned to normal but for the Hindutva Brigade of the BJP coming out to the streets in Jammu against the government order of revocation of allotment of forest land to the Shrine Board. The BJP has given a call for two days of Jammu Bandh for politicisation of the issue and surrender of the State government to separatist forces. Even the VHP, Assam Unit has threatened to disrupt Haj pilgrimage. The National Conference led by Omar Abdullah and the Peoples Democratic Party led by Mehbooba Mufti have whipped up communal passion forgetting the fact that the National Conference government created the SAS Board with the Governor as Chairman and the Deputy Chief Minister and the Forest Minister belonging to PDP issued the land allotment order. When these leaders found that the Islamist forces have mobilised public protest on this issue they also lent their voices in support of the Islamist forces. The PDP has withdrawn from the coalition reducing the Azad Government to a minority. The Government will seek a vote of trust on the 7th July as directed by the Governor and the Chief Minister appeared confident of victory. As elections to the State Assembly is not far off ,the Azad government can continue as caretaker government even if it lost the trust motion. Whatever be the fate of the Government, the chasm created between the two communities on this issue would take time to repair. Political parties should refrain from politicising the issue any further. source: assam tribune editorial