Author: Mohit Kandhari
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: July 29, 2008
Over a dozen injured as protesters defy curfew
for second day
Angry Jammu continued to fight mother of all
agitations triggered over Amarnath land transfer without showing any signs
of exhaustion.
On Monday when Amarnath yatra sangharsh samiti
-- a conglomerate of social, political and religious organisations spearheading
the agitation extended the Jammu bandh till July 31, local residents instead
of showing signs of fatigue backed the decision by lending their silent support.
Meanwhile, on the fifth day of spontaneous
bandh, Jammu witnessed several violent protests with police control room coming
on radar of the agitators in Parade Ground area. For the past three days,
the area has remained focal point of agitation but the district administration
has failed to restore normalcy despite imposing curfew restrictions.
The State police and the anti-riot police
-- Rapid Action Force (RAF) -- are finding it extremely difficult to contain
pent up anger among residents, defying curfew restrictions in large numbers
to join the ongoing agitation.
In separate incidents of violence across Jammu,
angry protesters torched police vehicles in Muthi area on the outskirts of
Jammu.
In the walled city, protesters attacked a
power sub-station and smashed windowpanes of police control room in day-long
incidents of stone pelting. Police used heavy teargas shelling and water cannons
to disperse the mob as it resorted to heavy stone pelting. Anti-riot police
fired some warning shots in the air to quell the mob but violence showed no
signs of abating till late evening. More than one dozen agitators and policemen
were injured in the day-long violent clashes.
Desperate appeals made by Governor NN Vohra
through media advertisements and interlocutors were ignored as all constituents
of the sangharsh samiti are determined to take the agitation to its logical
end.
Addressing a press conference at the end of
the meeting of the Amarnath yatra sangharsh samiti in Geeta Bhawan, Leela
Karan Sharma, convener of the samiti announced that the agitation would continue
till its demands for restoration of 39.88 hectares of forest land to Amarnath
shrine board and removal of Governor NN Vohra were conceded by the Government.
He announced that petrol and diesel supplies
to the Kashmir valley would be blocked by the petrol tanker owners association
till July 31 to mount pressure on the Government.
The agitation took a violent turn in Jammu
on July 23 when Kuldeep Kumar Verma, an activist of the sangharsh samiti,
sacrificed his life for the cause of Amarnath land transfer.
The public anger spilled on to the streets
when police force disrespected dead body of Kuldeep, hailed as martyr, and
also made a desperate attempt to perform last rites in the wee hours of Thursday.
Police also lathicharged family members and activists of sangharsh samiti
mourning the death of Kuldeep in Parade Ground area. In his suicide note,
Kuldeep had stated that he was taking the extreme step to propel the agitation
which was going on in Jammu since June 30. The first phase of the agitation
was called off on July 8 after the fall of Ghulam Nabi Azad Government over
the issue. The Government was reduced to minority when its ally, the People's
democratic party, had pulled the plug and walked out of the coalition demanding
cancellation of the forest land transfer order. The State cabinet on May 26,
2008 had diverted 39.88 hectares of land to Amarnath shrine board to built
infrastructure for the pilgrims.
The order was misinterpreted and used by the
Kashmiri separatists and Valley centric mainstream political parties to put
pressure on the Government to revoke it as it had triggered mass uprising
in Kashmir. Under pressure, the State Cabinet reversed its order on July 1.
By doing this, the State Government managed to douse fires in Kashmir valley
but since then Jammu is burning.
Meanwhile, the State unit of the BJP on Monday
made yet another bid to blacken the faces of valley centric Kashmiri leaders
in the eyes of people of Jammu by claiming that these leaders have encroached
1600 kanals of forest land on the outskirts of Jammu and illegally constructed
palatial houses and buildings over it.