Srinagar, August 10
The police today clamped down on separatist leaders and placed a majority of them under house arrest. The police also made it clear that it would not let their purported "Muzaffarabad chalo" rally materialise tomorrow.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is among 11 separatists put under house arrest

"No leaders would be allowed to come to the Srinagar fruit mandi from where the rally is supposed to take off. We will disperse people from the venue if they do manage to assemble there," a senior official told The Tribune.

Enforcing curfew was one of the options but a decision would be taken later, he added. A number of PDP leaders, including former minister Abdul Azij Zargar and Nizamuddin Bhat, were also put under house arrest late in the evening.

The development came hours after they announced their support to fruit growers' call for Muzaffarabad chalo. "The police has asked us not to venture out," Zargar said. "Our party has been a votary of open economic trade with PoK and this is what traders want," he said.

Meanwhile, the Kashmir Valley Fruit Growers Association today distanced itself from the high-pitched political overtones, essentially separatist in nature, enveloping the Muzaffarabad march, a vcall for which was first given by it. "I will like to make it clear that it's a non-political rally. If some political leaders are supporting it, then I can't help it. We do not want the march to be called anti-India. Our aim is economical, not political," its leader Ghulam Rasool Bhat said. He said they wanted to end their dependence upon a single road vulnerable to vagaries of politics and weather.

Whatever be the organisers' aim behind the march, it is clear that the authorities have no intentions of making it even remotely successful. They placed Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and 11 of his Hurriyat leaders under arrest today. But many others, including Shabir Shah, have gone underground. Syed Ali Shah Gilani has already been under house arrest for the past four days.

Mirwaiz, however, insisted that their plans stand and they would make all-out efforts to stick to them. The police would not allow fruit-laden vehicles to move towards Parampora, where Srinagar's fruit mandi was located, and stop people from other districts to move towards it, senior officials said.

Srinagar, August 10
Even as Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil described the fruit growers’ “Muzaffarabad march”, scheduled for tomorrow, as a wrong decision, the PDP today announced to join the march. The announcement was made after PDP leaders, including president Mehbooba Mufti, held detailed meetings with the visiting all-party delegation.

Mehbooba Mufti said the PDP would fully participate in the march, adding that party workers and sympathisers would be led by senior leaders Abdul Aziz Zargar and Mohammad Dilawar Mir and they would constitute a part of the main caravan. She reiterated the urgency of fully operationalising the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road for passenger and goods traffic. In her statement she said the economic blockade enforced by communal and fascist forces in Jammu and other parts of the country against Kashmiris “only underscored the importance of this vital road for our economic survival.”

Mehbooba said her party had effectively brought the need for opening up of Kashmir on the center stage. Paying tributes to the martyrs who had lost their lives on April 7, 2004, when the PDP launched its first march in support of the demand to open the highway, she said it was time that the two parts of the state were now reunited for ushering in a new era of peace and progress in the region.

Commenting upon her party’s stand on the opening of trade route via Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road, Mehbooba Mufti said lamented that Congress Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had totally changed priorities on this count since he took over in November, 2005.

Srinagar, August 10
Governor N.N. Vohra has expressed satisfaction over the movement of trucks carrying supplies from Jammu to Srinagar, which had shown appreciable increase during the last four days.

Reviewing the stock position here today, the Governor was informed that 64 trucks carrying essential supplies and petroleum products reached the valley on August 5; 274 trucks reached Srinagar on August 8 and 270 yesterday. By 2 pm today, 178 trucks carrying supplies reached the valley from Jammu.

The movement of trucks was disrupted on the national highway on August 5 and 6.

The meeting was informed that the Consumer Affairs Department has stocked wheat, sufficient for one and a half months and rice for 29 days in various stores. Additional supplies of sugar are being arranged from the Jammu stores where buffer stocks are available.

The Governor directed the Consumer Affairs authorities to ensure the stocking of petroleum products for 15 days and for the purpose the oil companies would be immediately contacted to maintain this level of buffer stocks in Srinagar to meet the requirements. 

Srinagar, August 10
Three Al-Badr militants were killed by a joint party of 52 RR and 34 RR in the forest area of Rangawali, Tangmarg, in Baramula district.

Baramulla SSP Anand Jain said the Army started a search operation in the area and one militant, Mohammad Sultan Bhat, along with two others, fired indiscriminately on the search party, resulting in an encounter.

Three militants were killed whose identities were established as Mohammad Sultan Bhat of Kunzar, Shabir Ahmad Khanof Tangmarg and Nazir Ahmad Khanof Tangmarg.

The police said Sultan Bhat had been active in the area for over a decade and was involved in the killing of seven innocent civilians in three cases, including the killing of five persons in a house in Srai village. 

Jammu, August 10
The barbed wire placed by the Army at various places in the city to restrict the movement of people and to enforce curfew has become a hassle for the people here.

Barbed wires have caused road accidents and many people have sustained injuries after they got entangled in these.

When the Army was called in Jammu to carry out flag marches and to enforce law and order, it placed barbed wires on all roads to restrict the movement of vehicles.

“These wires are not visible to speeding vehicles and many two-wheelers get entangled in these wires during night. Many people have also been injured due to these wires”, Ramesh Sharma, a local resident, said. Ramesh met with an accident as he could not see the barbed wires placed on the road in Shastri Nagar.

These barbed wires are similar to the ones the Army uses on the Line of Control (LoC) to check the inflow of terrorists from across the border.

People said they were being treated as anti-national forces and alleged that the administration was using all tactics to crush their voice. “These wires are made in such a way that once you are entangled in them, it’s very difficult to release yourself without sustaining maximum injuries”, Vijay Kumar, who was injured in the barbed wires, said.

Vijay said: “The administration is trying to crush our voice by resorting to various tactics. These barbed wires have restricted our movement on our land”.

Meanwhile, sources in Jammu hospitals said the number of people injured by barbed wires had also increased. “The number of people who come for treatment has also increased. Two-wheeler riders can not see the barbed wire and end up meeting with an accident”, a doctor at the emergency section of the Government Medical College, Jammu, said.

Srinagar, August 10
JKLF chairman Yaseen Malik, who is undergoing treatment at the SKIMS, ended his indefinite fast after five days after getting an assurance from Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh this afternoon.

Kashmir divisional commissioner Masood Samoon conveyed the PM’s message, which said, “Every effort will be made to keep the national highway to Jammu and Kashmir open and no economic blockade of the state shall be allowed. All steps are being taken to ensure that there is complete communal harmony in the state and the government will take all steps to ensure safety of all its citizens. The Home Minister visited Jammu and Kashmir today to achieve this purpose.”

He was admitted to the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura here after his health condition worsened on Thursday.

Udhampur, August 10
As the ongoing agitation over the Amaranth land row spread to villages, the authorities had to impose curfew in Jib and other rural areas so as to keep a check on the movement of people, who have been coming in large number to lodge protest against the administration.

The curfew was earlier confined only to Udhampur town. On Saturday, people from 32 villages had staged a massive demonstration at Ghari in support of the on-going stir.

They accused the Centre and state government of adopting casual approach in solving the crises. Villagers from hilly areas came down to the towns in protest against the Union Government for neglecting the genuine demands of the people of Jammu.

A massive demonstration was held today at Pouni town in Reasi district as people from adjoining localities thronged the town to protest against police “atrocities”.

Katra, the base camp of Mata Vaishno Devi, also observed total shutdown on the 10th successive day as people took out a torch light procession in the town.

At Udhampur, hundreds of people, including women, defied curfew and held massive demonstration against the state government.

Jammu, August 10
After the Army and the CRPF strictly enforced curfew and sealed various localities with barbed wires, peaceful processions have replaced the pitched battles between the police and the protesters here.

The winter capital, which saw violent clashes in the early days of the Amarnath land row agitation, is now witnessing peaceful processions comprising men, women and children, holding the Tricolour in their hands.

The loss of life and property has also dipped drastically in the region over the past three-four days.

Despite various restrictions, protesters can be seen on their rooftops, beating utensils to lodge their protest on the issue. The protesters seem to be in no mood to give up despite strict imposition of curfew in the city.

Defying curfew, protesters walk up to the barbed wire placed on its exit point and indulge in intense sloganeering against the political leaders, who, according to them, are responsible for the turmoil.

Effigies of PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference president Omar Abdullah have also been burnt by the protesters.

Sunday also witnessed similar protests when fearing violent protests in the wake of the arrival of NC leader Farooq Abdullah and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti as members of the all-party delegation, the authorities did not relax curfew for the entire day.

Meanwhile, the curfew was relaxed in Jammu from 5 am to 12 noon and again from 5 pm to 8 pm today. Similarly, in Samba, the curfew was relaxed from 5 am to 11 am. 

Jammu, August 10
Protesting against the revocation of transfer of land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB), a youth here today attempted suicide by consuming some pesticide, official sources said.

The agitator, Anil Kumar Sharma, took part in a protest rally, which defied the curfew restriction in the border town of R.S. Pura in Jammu district.

Sharma, who had a tiff with the security men deployed in the town, rushed to his home, consumed pesticides and returned at the demonstration site where he fell unconscious.

He was rushed to the Government Medical College (GMC) hospital.

It is the third suicide attempt over the land row in Jammu, the sources added.

Later, a large number of people assembled before the GMC hospital and raised anti-Governor and pro-samiti slogans. — PTI

Udhampur, August 10
Criticising the authorities for maintaining a silence on threats being issued to Jammu-based judges of lower courts in the Kashmir valley, the lawyers here today demanded that action be taken against those who were trying to influence the judiciary.

President of the Udhampur Bar Association, Surinder Khajuria, termed the threats to the judges of lower courts as a game plan of anti-national forces to influence the judiciary to accomplish their nefarious designs.

“Due to the threats of fundamentalist Kashmiri leaders, some Jammu-based judges have gone on a casual leave, while some others are seriously thinking to leave the valley to save their lives”, Khajuria told The Tribune.

He regretted that instead of taking action against anti-national elements, the authorities were patronising such forces.

“We have already given an ultimatum to the authorities to take appropriate action to revive the shattered confidence of the Jammu-based judges appointed in the Kashmir valley”, he said and observed that the aim of giving threats to employees was to make the valley free from pro-Indian administration.

“It is unfortunate that some Jammu-based judges are being forced to leave the Kashmir valley, but the authorities have maintained a criminal silence over it”, he said. Secretary, Bar Association, Dinkar Gupta, rued that the Jammu-based judges had been living under threats in the Kashmir valley, but the authorities had yet not taken any step in this regard. Earlier, president of the Jammu Bar Association, B.S. Slathia, had alleged that due to threats, Jammu-based judges appointed in the Kashmir valley had taken casual leave.

Srinagar, August 10
National Conference president Omar Abdullah has bid farewell to his blog, owing to “personal abuse”.

“I am going back to being an old school politician and you can read what I think in the newspapers”, Omar said in his write-up “Alvida” pasted on his blog today.

Omar, the first politician from Jammu and Kashmir who started sharing his thoughts through his blog, said the blog was supposed to be about the serious and the frivolous, the happy and the sad, the important and the completely pointless, but somewhere along the way it lost its character.

“There was a time not so long ago when I used to enjoy rushing to this blog and reading comments. I used to look forward to pitting my wits against people who I didn't necessarily agree with, but who could argue a point on its merit. Sure, they didn't like me and would not trust me further than they could throw me but they had the maturity and self confidence to listen”.

“Last night as I finished my last post, I realised that I was filled with dread at the heap of personal abuse I was expecting when I logged on this morning and I was not wrong”, Omar said.

He said, “So after almost 42 posts from me and more than 900 comments from all of you, I am signing off and I will not be coming back”. Omar, however, thanked those who had contributed to his blog. “Those of you who made this blog what it was, I thank you. Those of you who made this blog what it is, I thank you, too”.— PTI

Jammu, August 10
The BJP today termed yesterday's incident which led to the ouster of Kashmir-based politicians from the meeting of the all-party delegation in Jammu as the first major victory of the people of Jammu.

"August 9, 2008, was an epoch-making day in the political history of Jammu in a sense. This day shall always be remembered as a day of the first major victory of the people of Jammu province against the communal and fundamentalist forces out to destroy the social fabric of Indian polity," BJP state vice-president and spokesma Hari Om said. He was commenting on the recent developments in Delhi and Jammu concerning the ongoing agitation in Jammu for the oration of land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board.

He said: "The ouster of Ghulam Nabi Azad, Dr Farooq Abdullah, JKPCC chief Prof Saif-ud-din Soz, and PDP President Mehbooba Mufti from the meeting of the all-party delegation which visited Jammu for an on-the- spot assessment of the situation shows the unique strength of the people of Jammu province" The ouster of Congress, PDP and NC leaders from the meeting was a clear signal that "such communal leaders have no place whatsoever in the secular and tolerant Jammu," Hari Om said.

He expressed hope that the goal of the people of Jammu province shall be achieved shortly as the authorities have been left with no other option but to restore the land to the shrine board, recall Governor N.N.Vohra and restore the Shrine Board Act to its original position.