Author: Indo-Asian News Service
Publication: MSN News
Date: August 2, 2008
URL: http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1604831
When the protesters tried to remove the barriers
put up to stop them, the police fired water cannons and baton charged the
crowd.
New Delhi: Hundreds of Kashmiri Hindus backed
by political parties clashed with police in the capital on Saturday while
holding a rally to pledge support to activists in Jammu protesting against
the killings of two people and revocation of the land transfer to the Amarnath
Shrine Board.
Around 3,000 people of all age groups gathered
at Jantar Mantar in the heart of the capital and proceeded towards the Parliament
House, but were stopped by police officials near the Parliament Street police
station there.
When the protesters tried to remove the barriers
put up to stop them, the police fired water cannons and baton charged the
crowd. According to the protesters, nearly 15 people were injured in the clash.
"We condemn the indefinite curfew and
the shoot-at-sight orders on peaceful protesters in Jammu and its outskirts.
Governor N.N. Vohra along with his people is trying to crush the entire movement
initiated by the common citizens of Jammu against the communal and discriminatory
policies of the state government," said Aditya Raj Kaul, one of the protesters.
"It is a direct attack on the freedom
of press and a human rights violation by the state. The National Human Rights
Commission (NHRC) needs to intervene immediately," Kaul added.
Rahul Sharma, another activist, said: "We
immediately demand re-allocation of land to the Amarnath Shrine Board and
removal of Governor Vohra."
The protest was organised by the Amarnath
Sangarsh Samiti along with various other civil society organisations and Kashmiri
Hindu frontline groups such as Roots In Kashmir, Panun Kashmir, JKNDF and
Jammu Kashmir Vichar Manch.
Kaul said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP),
Shiv Sena, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)
and many cultural, social and political outfits in the capital supported the
protest. The protesters warned of intensifying their movement in the coming
days.
Unrest begin in Kashmir after the state government
allotted 40 hectares of forest land in north Kashmir to the Amarnath Shrine
Board May 26 for creating "temporary and pre-fabricated" shelters
for Hindu pilgrims to the Amarnath cave shrine.
The order was revoked on July 1 following
violent protests in the Muslim-dominated Kashmir valley, in which six people
were killed. The protesters alleged that the land would be used to settle
outsiders and change the Muslim-majority character of the valley.
The revocation order silenced the protests
in Kashmir but ignited demonstrations in the Hindu-majority Jammu region,
which has been reeling under curfews, shutdowns and violent protests for more
than a month now. The violence has claimed five lives.
