Showing posts with label Amarnath Land Issue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amarnath Land Issue. Show all posts
Friday, August 29, 2008
Who is misleading Muslims on the Amarnath Land Issue?
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Tuesday, August 12, 2008
JAMMU & KASHMIR IS BURNING
The volatile situation in Jammu and Kashmir has taken another turn to the state of total chaos. Army was today called out on the streets of the city as nearly 16 persons were killed in clashes at curfew-bound Kishtwar area of the Jammu region.
Protestors led by Hurriyat leaders defied curfew restrictions and staged rallies. Police fired teargas shells today when the agitators pelted stones at security personnel in Kishtwar. The Army was called to assist police in the restoring normalcy after incidents of arson at some places.
Curfew defied
People simply defied curfew to trawl the streets and clash with troops in many towns in the valley. At Kishtwar in the plains there were all the makings of a communal clash about to break.
A worried Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called for another all-party meeting Wednesday. He hopes to hammer out a viable formula that could be acceptable to people of both Jammu and the Kashmir area.
"The leaders met Tuesday but could not arrive at a workable formula or solution that would appease the people," said a senior government functionary.
Communal divide
For the last two months, both regions have been locked in unparalleled strife along communal lines. The troubles started over the transfer and subsequent revocation of 40 hectares of land in north Kashmir by the local government to the Amarnath Shrine Board. The board manages the pilgrimage to the shrine dedicated to Lord Shiva.
Waves of protests, shutdowns and violence first started in the Kashmir Valley. Similar developments followed in Jammu. Now, it’s back in the valley again. The whole of Jammu and Kashmir appears to be paralysed.
Firing, arson all-around
As trouble spread like the proverbial wildfire across the valley, incidents of firing were reported from Srinagar, from Lasjan on the outskirts of this summer capital as well as from the towns of Bandipora and Nagabal.
In Bandipora, three persons were killed when the army fired at people defying curfew. CRPF troopers also fired at a mob in the Nagabal area of north Kashmir Ganderbal district killing one person on the spot.
In Lasjan, three people were killed when the armed guard of senior People's Democratic Party (PDP) leader Javaid Mustafa Mir fired in panic as the former minister was attacked by a mob.
Hindu's houses torched
Elsewhere in the summer capital, mobs torched some Hindu houses and destroyed vehicles in their rage against the economic blockade of the valley following the prolonged protests in Jammu.
Thousands of protesters reached the residence of the moderate Hurriyat Conference chief Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, breaking the cordon imposed by the security forces who had been keeping him under house arrest. Many others did the same to let Syed Ali Geelani, head of the hardliner Hurriyat, out of his Hyderpora home.
Both led marches to the Jamia Mosque -- where the funeral of Hurriyat leader Sheikh Abdul Aziz was being held.
A large procession led by the separatist Shia leader Aga Hassan Badgami also marched towards the Jamia mosque from Badgam district.
Hindus targetted
On Monday evening, indefinite curfew was imposed throughout the valley. It has made little difference to the protestors as of now.
Hindus and Muslims clashed in complete defiance of curfew restrictions imposed in the Muslim majority town. Two Hindu houses were torched in Kishtwar and mobs pelted stones while shouting anti-government slogans. However, the situation in the rest of Jammu province was calm.
Muslim rage
Unprecedented scenes of public rage are on the show across Kashmir. Sixteen Kashmiris have been killed since Tuesday morning taking the death toll in two days of uprising to 23. Hundreds more injured are battling for their lives in hospitals.
Anti-India protests have now spread to all major districts of Jammu region including Doda, Kishtwar, Rajouri and Poonch and curfew has been clamped there too.
Trouble spiraled out of control Monday after government forces tried to suppress the massive public demonstration on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad highway.
Seven persons were shot dead including a senior Hurriyat leader, Sheikh Abdul Aziz, who was leading the march along with others.
Total chaos
The use of force however did not prevent people from taking the body of slain Hurriyat leader Seikh Aziz in a massive procession to Srinagar’s sprawling martyrs' cemetery.
In a show of unity, all top Hurriyat leaders, including Mirwaiz Farooq, Syed Ali Geelani and JKLF chief Yasin Malik joined the funeral prayers.
In Saidpora area on the Ali Jan Road one youth was killed when CRPF fired upon a procession.
Elsewhere in the summer capital, mobs torched some vehicles and houses belonging to Congress party and police officers in their rage against the brutal use of force on civilians.
Protests everywhere
The protests are not confined to Kashmir valley alone.
Curfew has been clamped on all but two districts of Jammu region where people took out processions in solidarity with the people in Kashmir valley.
Curfew has now been extended to Rajouri-Poonch, Doda and Baderwah, parts of Udhampur leaving only Jammu city and Samba in the state.
Hurriyat Conference has called upon people to continue protests, urging them to strictly follow the next course to be announced soon.
Separatist missing
Meanwhile whereabouts of senior Hurriyat leader, Shabbir Shah, who along with Sheikh Aziz was leading march to on Monday, are not known. A spokesman for the Democratic Freedom Party, of which Shah is supreme leader, said police is refusing to divulge his whereabouts.
Protestors led by Hurriyat leaders defied curfew restrictions and staged rallies. Police fired teargas shells today when the agitators pelted stones at security personnel in Kishtwar. The Army was called to assist police in the restoring normalcy after incidents of arson at some places.
Curfew defied
People simply defied curfew to trawl the streets and clash with troops in many towns in the valley. At Kishtwar in the plains there were all the makings of a communal clash about to break.
A worried Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called for another all-party meeting Wednesday. He hopes to hammer out a viable formula that could be acceptable to people of both Jammu and the Kashmir area.
"The leaders met Tuesday but could not arrive at a workable formula or solution that would appease the people," said a senior government functionary.
Communal divide
For the last two months, both regions have been locked in unparalleled strife along communal lines. The troubles started over the transfer and subsequent revocation of 40 hectares of land in north Kashmir by the local government to the Amarnath Shrine Board. The board manages the pilgrimage to the shrine dedicated to Lord Shiva.
Waves of protests, shutdowns and violence first started in the Kashmir Valley. Similar developments followed in Jammu. Now, it’s back in the valley again. The whole of Jammu and Kashmir appears to be paralysed.
Firing, arson all-around
As trouble spread like the proverbial wildfire across the valley, incidents of firing were reported from Srinagar, from Lasjan on the outskirts of this summer capital as well as from the towns of Bandipora and Nagabal.
In Bandipora, three persons were killed when the army fired at people defying curfew. CRPF troopers also fired at a mob in the Nagabal area of north Kashmir Ganderbal district killing one person on the spot.
In Lasjan, three people were killed when the armed guard of senior People's Democratic Party (PDP) leader Javaid Mustafa Mir fired in panic as the former minister was attacked by a mob.
Hindu's houses torched
Elsewhere in the summer capital, mobs torched some Hindu houses and destroyed vehicles in their rage against the economic blockade of the valley following the prolonged protests in Jammu.
Thousands of protesters reached the residence of the moderate Hurriyat Conference chief Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, breaking the cordon imposed by the security forces who had been keeping him under house arrest. Many others did the same to let Syed Ali Geelani, head of the hardliner Hurriyat, out of his Hyderpora home.
Both led marches to the Jamia Mosque -- where the funeral of Hurriyat leader Sheikh Abdul Aziz was being held.
A large procession led by the separatist Shia leader Aga Hassan Badgami also marched towards the Jamia mosque from Badgam district.
Hindus targetted
On Monday evening, indefinite curfew was imposed throughout the valley. It has made little difference to the protestors as of now.
Hindus and Muslims clashed in complete defiance of curfew restrictions imposed in the Muslim majority town. Two Hindu houses were torched in Kishtwar and mobs pelted stones while shouting anti-government slogans. However, the situation in the rest of Jammu province was calm.
Muslim rage
Unprecedented scenes of public rage are on the show across Kashmir. Sixteen Kashmiris have been killed since Tuesday morning taking the death toll in two days of uprising to 23. Hundreds more injured are battling for their lives in hospitals.
Anti-India protests have now spread to all major districts of Jammu region including Doda, Kishtwar, Rajouri and Poonch and curfew has been clamped there too.
Trouble spiraled out of control Monday after government forces tried to suppress the massive public demonstration on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad highway.
Seven persons were shot dead including a senior Hurriyat leader, Sheikh Abdul Aziz, who was leading the march along with others.
Total chaos
The use of force however did not prevent people from taking the body of slain Hurriyat leader Seikh Aziz in a massive procession to Srinagar’s sprawling martyrs' cemetery.
In a show of unity, all top Hurriyat leaders, including Mirwaiz Farooq, Syed Ali Geelani and JKLF chief Yasin Malik joined the funeral prayers.
In Saidpora area on the Ali Jan Road one youth was killed when CRPF fired upon a procession.
Elsewhere in the summer capital, mobs torched some vehicles and houses belonging to Congress party and police officers in their rage against the brutal use of force on civilians.
Protests everywhere
The protests are not confined to Kashmir valley alone.
Curfew has been clamped on all but two districts of Jammu region where people took out processions in solidarity with the people in Kashmir valley.
Curfew has now been extended to Rajouri-Poonch, Doda and Baderwah, parts of Udhampur leaving only Jammu city and Samba in the state.
Hurriyat Conference has called upon people to continue protests, urging them to strictly follow the next course to be announced soon.
Separatist missing
Meanwhile whereabouts of senior Hurriyat leader, Shabbir Shah, who along with Sheikh Aziz was leading march to on Monday, are not known. A spokesman for the Democratic Freedom Party, of which Shah is supreme leader, said police is refusing to divulge his whereabouts.
Its a full-blown national crisis in Kashmir now
The Amarnath row is fast snow-balling into a far grimmer crisis. It now threatens to plunge the Kashmir valley into the anti-India tumult of the early nineties.
The death of senior Hurriyat Conference and People’s League leader Sheikh Abdul Aziz has worsened the situation further. All at once stunning and inflaming the Valley, already in uproar over the alleged economic blockade imposed by protesters in Jammu.
Out of control
Monday’s events have spiraled swiftly out of control and have left the government besieged on more fronts than it had anticipated. The dramatic escalation of violence in the Valley may indeed have radically transformed the nature of the crisis. A provincial problem has overnight been reincarnated into an emergency with international ramifications.
There is an angry and growing mass of Kashmiris bent on marching across the Line of Control into Pakistan-held Kashmir. Within the Valley itself, the latest killings are bound to provoke fresh violent reaction.
On the other hand, Pakistani forces have resumed firing across the LoC on Indian Army pickets in the Poonch-Rajouri sector.
No longer a political crisis
“This is no longer a political crisis in the state,” said a senior official based in Srinagar. “This is now a full-blown national crisis.”
Indefinite Valley-wide curfew was clamped and security forces were put on optimum alert this evening in anticipation of trouble. But similar measures have failed to have much effect even in the Jammu area. Tempers in Kashmir are known to make short work of such restrictions.
Sheikh Aziz’s funeral on Tuesday, slated in the hotbed of militancy near the Jama Masjid in downtown Srinagar, could prove a flashpoint.
Who is responsible?
An irate Hurriyat chief Mirwaiz Omer Farooq tonight warned the government against keeping the Valley clamped under curfew tomorrow, saying the people of Kashmir would give “a fitting funeral” to the slain Sheikh Aziz.
“We want to ask the government who is responsible for the death of Sheikh Aziz and four other innocent Kashmiris and only then shall we disclose out future course,” the Mirwaiz added.
The dramatic turn of events has effectively hijacked the focus from the Amarnath movement and produced a flaming exigency that may well demand immediate intervention from New Delhi.
The death of senior Hurriyat Conference and People’s League leader Sheikh Abdul Aziz has worsened the situation further. All at once stunning and inflaming the Valley, already in uproar over the alleged economic blockade imposed by protesters in Jammu.
Out of control
Monday’s events have spiraled swiftly out of control and have left the government besieged on more fronts than it had anticipated. The dramatic escalation of violence in the Valley may indeed have radically transformed the nature of the crisis. A provincial problem has overnight been reincarnated into an emergency with international ramifications.
There is an angry and growing mass of Kashmiris bent on marching across the Line of Control into Pakistan-held Kashmir. Within the Valley itself, the latest killings are bound to provoke fresh violent reaction.
On the other hand, Pakistani forces have resumed firing across the LoC on Indian Army pickets in the Poonch-Rajouri sector.
No longer a political crisis
“This is no longer a political crisis in the state,” said a senior official based in Srinagar. “This is now a full-blown national crisis.”
Indefinite Valley-wide curfew was clamped and security forces were put on optimum alert this evening in anticipation of trouble. But similar measures have failed to have much effect even in the Jammu area. Tempers in Kashmir are known to make short work of such restrictions.
Sheikh Aziz’s funeral on Tuesday, slated in the hotbed of militancy near the Jama Masjid in downtown Srinagar, could prove a flashpoint.
Who is responsible?
An irate Hurriyat chief Mirwaiz Omer Farooq tonight warned the government against keeping the Valley clamped under curfew tomorrow, saying the people of Kashmir would give “a fitting funeral” to the slain Sheikh Aziz.
“We want to ask the government who is responsible for the death of Sheikh Aziz and four other innocent Kashmiris and only then shall we disclose out future course,” the Mirwaiz added.
The dramatic turn of events has effectively hijacked the focus from the Amarnath movement and produced a flaming exigency that may well demand immediate intervention from New Delhi.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Go back! Patil
At least two protestors risked their live when they attempted to stop the car of the Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil. The minister was leaving for Kashmir after holding talks with the agitating group. Raising slogans against Patil, the protesters came in front of his vehicle and said they would continue with their protests till the land was handed over to the Amarnath Shrine Board.
The duo raised slogans-- "Shivraj Patil Go back, and Zameen le ke rahenge (we are determined to take the land),"-Latter, they were whisked away by the police. Patil continued his journey after the brief protest on the way to the airport.
The all-party delegation, headed by Patil, arrived here this morning and was greeted with black flags and protests.
The duo raised slogans-- "Shivraj Patil Go back, and Zameen le ke rahenge (we are determined to take the land),"-Latter, they were whisked away by the police. Patil continued his journey after the brief protest on the way to the airport.
The all-party delegation, headed by Patil, arrived here this morning and was greeted with black flags and protests.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Talks fail on the Amarnath Shrine Land issue
The first round of talks on the issue of Amarnath Shrine Board land allotment has failed. The all party team led by Home Minister Shivraj Patil, was unable to convince The Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti about an acceptable solution. Thus, the Samiti has decided to continue the stir.
"The agitation in Jammu will continue," Leela Karan Sharma, convener of the Shri Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti (SASS), told reporters after the over hour-long round of talks. "The talks today were inconclusive. We will meet again," Sharma said adding "no new proposals" have been made to resolve the crisis.
The Samiti had earlier announced that it will boycott the talks, unless the Kasmiri leaders are kept out of it. The talks could only resume when their demand was met. As a result, Farooq Abdullah (National Conference), Mehbooba Mufti (PDP) and Union Minister Saifuddin Soz stayed away.
The Samiti is leading the month-long agitation that has gained much popular support in Jammu region.
"The agitation in Jammu will continue," Leela Karan Sharma, convener of the Shri Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti (SASS), told reporters after the over hour-long round of talks. "The talks today were inconclusive. We will meet again," Sharma said adding "no new proposals" have been made to resolve the crisis.
The Samiti had earlier announced that it will boycott the talks, unless the Kasmiri leaders are kept out of it. The talks could only resume when their demand was met. As a result, Farooq Abdullah (National Conference), Mehbooba Mufti (PDP) and Union Minister Saifuddin Soz stayed away.
The Samiti is leading the month-long agitation that has gained much popular support in Jammu region.
BJP to bring Amarnath Land issue on naional stage
The BJP has decided to move the Amarnath land-for-pilgrims case onto the national stage. The move to increase the pitch is somewhat belated given that the Jammu agitation is more than 35 days old. But BJP leaders feel the issue is fit to bring it now on the national level.
Jammu stir is a reaction to the decision of the J&K government to revoke the allotment about 100 acres of land to the Amarnath Shrine Board. It was done under duress as there were violent protests in the Kashmir Valley over the transfer of the land.
BJP seeks to identify itself with the “discrimination” against the Hindu pilgrims. This suits the party’s argument that the sentiments of the Muslim-dominated Valley are more readily catered to by the government.
Jammu stir is a reaction to the decision of the J&K government to revoke the allotment about 100 acres of land to the Amarnath Shrine Board. It was done under duress as there were violent protests in the Kashmir Valley over the transfer of the land.
BJP seeks to identify itself with the “discrimination” against the Hindu pilgrims. This suits the party’s argument that the sentiments of the Muslim-dominated Valley are more readily catered to by the government.
No let-up in Jammu & Kashmir
There was no improvement in the situation in Jammu nor in Kashmir. The group leading the campaign for the restoration of forest land to the Amarnath shrine board in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday called for extending the general shutdown of the Jammu region till August 14.
The Amarnath Yatra Sangarsh Samiti (AYSS), a conglomerate of more than 30 Hindu groups, said Jammu will observe the shutdown for six more days (till Thursday).
Jammu has been observing shutdowns since June 26, briefly interrupted for four days from July 18 to July 22. The region has also been reeling under curfews.
The necessity to "extend the shutdown was felt because the government is deaf and dumb" and has failed to hear the loud and clear sentiments of the people of Jammu for the return of the land." AYSS convenor Leela Karan Sharma told reporters.
The agitation was intensified after the government cancelled the May 26 land transfer order, allotting some 40 hectares of land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board.
The Amarnath Yatra Sangarsh Samiti (AYSS), a conglomerate of more than 30 Hindu groups, said Jammu will observe the shutdown for six more days (till Thursday).
Jammu has been observing shutdowns since June 26, briefly interrupted for four days from July 18 to July 22. The region has also been reeling under curfews.
The necessity to "extend the shutdown was felt because the government is deaf and dumb" and has failed to hear the loud and clear sentiments of the people of Jammu for the return of the land." AYSS convenor Leela Karan Sharma told reporters.
The agitation was intensified after the government cancelled the May 26 land transfer order, allotting some 40 hectares of land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board.
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