Jammu, July 3
Defying curfew for the second day today, violent protesters went on a rampage, halting trains, setting ablaze police vehicles and fighting pitched battles with the police in fresh violence over the Amarnath land row in the region.

Companies of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) were also pressed into service to maintain calm in the winter capital, while the Army staged a flag march in Kathua district.

Over 50 persons were injured in the clashes between the police and the protesters at various places in the region.

The situation worsened in Kathua today, as a strong mob of over 500 people attacked the Lakhanpur toll post, destroying the offices of the Excise and Sales Tax Department there. They also set afire some of these offices. The protesters damaged the vehicles of the department and didn't spare the personal vehicles of the staff members.

An employee posted at the toll post said it would take at least seven days to make it functional again. Prior to reaching Lakhanpur they had a confrontation with the police in which several persons were injured.

Scores of protesters also flocked to the railway station in Kathua and tried to block rail traffic. The police lathi-charged and used teargas shells, injuring 25 persons.

In the winter capital, agitating activists of the Shiv Sena ransacked a house in Nanak Nagar, where former provincial president and All- Party Hurriyat Conference leader D.R. Sharma was to address a press conference on the ongoing crisis at 11 am.

The first report of a clash came from Talab Tillo where a large number of agitators had converged to lodge their protest against the state government move to revoke the land transfer to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB). The protesters pelted stones at the police which retaliated with cane-charge and teargas shells, injuring seven people.

The protesters also set afire a police vehicle in Ban Talab area in the afternoon, which was followed by a clash between the two sides.

A strong mob of agitators armed with lathis took out a protest march in Muthi, which witnessed violent protests in the last two days.

Slogans like 'Pakistan hai hai' and 'Mufti hai hai' rented the air here. The police also arrested BJP leaders - Ramesh Arora, Chaudhary Sham Lal, Sant Sharma and Shamsher Singh for defying curfew. 

Udhampur, July 3
Despite Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad’s efforts to win over angry Jammu residents, protesting against the government’s decision to cancel land allotment to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB), does not seem to have brought positive results.

In Bhaderwah, curfew was imposed for the second consecutive day today. The authorities have also issued “shoot at sight” orders to restore normalcy in the town. The Congress faces a virtual revolt in the Jammu region, especially in Udhampur district, as party workers took to the streets to oppose the decision.

With the situation worsening everyday, the authorities imposed Section 144 on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway to foil any attempt to disrupt the movement of traffic. Police was also deployed on the highway to disperse the unruly mob.

On the fourth consecutive day, massive demonstrations were held in almost all towns and tehsil headquarters of Udhampur, Reasi, Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts.

An angry mob set on fire two private cars which were on their way to the Kashmir valley after they entered into a verbal duel with people travelling in the vehicles.

The ongoing agitation against the cancellation of land spread in rural areas. Despite efforts of the senior Congress leaders to convince the people, demonstrations were held today at Landar, Panchari, Majalata, Khoon, Thawal, Manwal, Battal, Kishanpur Ramkote and many other places.

At many places, Congress workers were seen participating in anti-government protests. People burnt the effigies of Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, veteran Congress leader and Health Minister Mangat Ram Sharma.

A massive demonstration was also held at Jakhani in Udhampur in which representatives of all political parties were present. People blocked the highway for more than two hours and shouted anti-government slogans. People attending the rally vowed to continue the agitation unless the government restored the land back to the SASB.

At Ramban, people took out a procession and blocked the movement of traffic on the highway. They shouted slogans against the government for succumbing before the anti-national forces.

Rajouri, July 3
The one-day strike call given by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal and supported by the BJP failed to evoke a good response here. Even as business establishments owned by the majority community remained open throughout the day, shops and other business organisations of the minority community, opened in the afternoon after remaining shut for some hours in the morning.

Reports from Poonch district suggested the same trend with some business establishments run by a particular community functioned as usual and those owned by the other community remained shut only in the morning hours.

In the evening, some miscreants tried to force shopkeepers belonging to both the majority and minority community to shut their business establishments, but the latter refused to do so. However, no incidents of violence were reported from anywhere.

Ahead of the strike call given by the BJP, the VHP and the Bajrang Dal, the district administration had taken adequate security measures to prevent any eventuality.

“I had to go for the Amarnath yatra, but the BJP, VHP and the Bajrang Dal, who indulged in protests, disrupted normal life in Jammu and have ruined my programme. They by politicising the land issue have done no good to Hindus. They are actually preventing pilgrims to go for the pilgrimage”, said Sanjay Kumar, a local. “The BJP is doing it for electoral gains and is communalising the issue. These organisations have vitiated the peaceful atmosphere of the state.”

Sangam (Pulwama), July 3
Operational chief of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) in Kashmir Abu Atif was shot dead after an encounter in Pulwama today.

Active in the valley for the past decade, Atif played a key role in the December 2005 terror attack on the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore and suicide attack on a CRPF garrison in Rampur, said Kashmir's IGP S.M. Sahai.

Security forces trapped Atif, who hailed from Pakistan and rose to become the operational chief of LeT in Kashmir, in a house in Shopian village.

Syed Moin, a close associate of Atif, responsible for killings of 50 civilians and security personnel, was also killed in the operation in Naina Batpora village. Moin too hailed from Pakistan.

His killing has come as a big relief to the government at a time when a controversy linked with the Amarnath yatra had flared up in the valley and militants could have carried out attacks on pilgrims.

Official sources told The Tribune that Atif had reportedly married a Kashmiri woman and they had kids. The police has detained the woman for interrogation.

“Our information is that he was planning to move to Pakistan in the coming days with his family. We had been after him for long, but he was a clever operator and managed to dodge us for years,” said an official involved in over four-hour-long operation said.

The house belonged to one Bashir Ahmad Bhat and militants had made a concrete hideout for them. His suspected wife was with him when the encounter started.

After getting information about the militants, counter-insurgence forces, including personnel from the 130 and 93 Battalions of the CRPF and special operations group, cordoned off the area. The 55 RR of the Army also joined the operation.

Atif acted as a mastermind for Lashkar for its terror works in the country and played an important role in giving final touches to its number of subversive activities.

He had made south Kashmir his base and killed a number of civilians and cops, including inspector Manzoor Ahmad.

The IGP said the militant organised grenade attacks on tourists in Shalimar and Charsoo to scare them away from Kashmir. Some secret documents beside arms and ammunitions have been recovered from the militants.

Chandanwari (Pahalgam), July 3
The ongoing trouble in Jammu and Kashmir over the Amarnath land transfer issue, which has already led to a political crisis, has hit the flow of pilgrims to the holy cave shrine.

While the number of pilgrims on the traditional 32-kms-long route to the holy cave shrine from here touched 14,741 on June 22, the number touched the minimum of 2,100 that crossed the exit point here by this afternoon.

The number of pilgrims who crossed the exit point here had been recorded as 4,792 on July 1 and 3,197 on July 2.

The two-month-long yatra began on June 18 that was mired in the controversy over forest land transfer to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB).

The number had been ranging between 3,000 and 8,000 after the trouble over the land transfer started both in the Kashmir and Jammu divisions.

The total of 2,070 pilgrims, who began their holy trek from the exit point after travelling 16 km from the base camp at Nunwan, Pahalgam by this afternoon included 1,400 males, 486 women, 74 children and 110 sadhus.

The police officials manning the exit point said the decline in numbers over the past few days has been due to the violence in Jammu, disrupting normal movement of traffic over the past week.

“The onward movement of pilgrims is regulated every day between 6 am and 2 pm,” said DSP Shabir H Geelani, heading the security set up here.

“Our men ensure that nothing wrong goes during the movement of pilgrims so that there is no untoward incident,” said the official.

This is ensured with the help of two door frame metal detectors (DFMD) one each at the entry and exit points here. Anti-sabotage teams and sniffer dogs of the security forces are also engaged in ensuring the safety and security of the pilgrims and those engaged in the smooth conduct of the yatra, Geelani said.

“We look for any weapons and liquor,” said the police personnel at the metal detector. But, the policeman on the job rues the lack of proper arrangements for those on duty in these deep jungles, 115 km south of Srinagar.

“There are no sheds even for the police personnel… what can they (government) do for the people visiting here”, said the policeman. A number of labourers, ponywallahs and dandiwallahs assisting the pilgrims always have been having high hopes of earning their livelihood on the annual yatra.

But, the recent developments have adversely affected the business and many of them have decided to return to the places in south Kashmir to find other ways to make their livelihood.

There had been a heavy rush during the early days, said the police officials adding that it was difficult to manage the numbers beyond 8,000 on the 32-km route to the holy cave, which has two major stations of Sheshnag and Panjtarni on way.

Srinagar, July 3
In an attempt to assuage apprehensions of Hindu pilgrims that the Kashmir's agitation against the land transfer to the Amarnath shrine board had nothing to do with any opposition to their pilgrimage, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Yasin Malik today headed for Baltal to meet them.

Baltal is the second base camp for Amarnath pilgrims apart from Pehalgam.

“We are not against the yatra, and we are totally opposed to giving the agitation a communal colour. Our protests were against encroachment upon our rights and properties by outside agencies with the government’s support,” he told reporters today before leaving for Baltal.

Accompanied by a number of his supporters, Malik said they were also carrying relief material for the yatris. Criticising the BJP and extremist Hindu organisations like the VHP and the Bajrang Dal for allegedly communalising the nine-day-long agitation in the valley, he said they wanted to make political dividends from the whole affair.

UNI adds: Chairman of the breakaway Hurriyat Conference (HC), Syed Ali Shah Geelani, was placed under house arrest yesterday, to prevent him from taking part in the Friday congregation at the Hazratbal shrine.

Geelani had given a “Hazratbal chalo” call to offer special prayers for “victory” in the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) forest land issue.

After he gave a slip to the police and led two demonstrations in the old city and Jamia Masjid area against the diversion of forest land to the SASB, authorities this time, did not take any chance and put him under house arrest before the Friday prayers.

Official sources confirmed that Geelani was placed under house arrest yesterday.

A spokesman of the HC, Aiyaz Akbar, said a large number of police personnel were deployed outside Geelani’s residence. Geelani and chairman of the moderate faction of the HC, Mirwaiz Moulvi Omar Farooq, were scheduled to address the congregation besides, offer “fateha” to all those who had died during the struggle, particularly in the recent protests against land allotment.

Aiyaz also expressed displeasure over the bursting of crackers after the government revoked the land diversion order to the SASB. 

Srinagar, July 3
While the Congress and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have fallen apart over the land transfer issue, a virtual war of words has begun between the opposition National Conference (NC) and the PDP, which pulled out of the coalition government reducing it to a minority last week.

Both the parties have made it clear not to support the ruling Congress when Azad faces a floor test in the state Assembly on July 7, in the event of which his government seems to be in deep waters.

The PDP said, “It does not require lessons in political conduct” from a party like the NC. In response to a statement by some leaders of the NC, a spokesman of the PDP after a meeting of senior leaders convened by party president Mehbooba Mufti said, the NC's sermons to the PDP were in the nature of “devil quoting scriptures”.

The spokesman said the NC was upset over Mehbooba’s criticism of Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad for obvious reasons.

After having waited for long in the hope of getting into power through the backdoor, NC’s hopes have now dashed to the ground, but not before its resident Omar Abdullah conceded that Azad had the required numbers to pass the floor test. He and legislature party leader Abdul Rahim Rather even met Azad before the crucial party meet in the hope of striking a deal.

However, some conscientious party stalwarts blocked attempts of party president and its patron Farooq Abdullah to bail out Azad. “How long this resistance lasts is anybody’s guess”, the spokesman said.

The opposition NC leader, Abdul Rahim Rather, yesterday said Mehbooba indulged in “slanderous mischievous campaign” and this was how Lt-Gen S.K. Sinha (retd) was appointed as the Governor.

Abdul Rahim Rather said Sinha was appointed the Governor when Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was the Chief Minister in 2003. The NC leaders also claimed that the PDP was not coming out clearly on the issue of support to the Azad-led government and PDP’s stand was ambiguous because it was not ready to relinquish power.

Jammu, July 3
Alleging that their party MLA from Samba Yashpal Kundal was picked up by the police, the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) today accused the Ghulam Nabi Azad government of resorting to horse-trading, ahead of the trust vote in the state Assembly on July 7.

Addressing mediapersons here, senior party leader Harsh Dev Singh said the government was trying to intimidate their MLAs before its test strength on July 7.

He alleged that the ruling party initially threatened Kundal, but when he did not give in to their threats, the police picked him up. He claimed that Kundal was kept at the Ramgarh police station. He said the police could not arrest any member of the Assembly without prior permission of the Speaker.

Harsh Dev also announced that they would challenge the decision of land revocation taken by the government. “The government had been reduced to a minority and hence the Cabinet meeting which revoked the land transfer order is totally unconstitutional,” he said. He added that Governor N.N. Vohra should have invoked Section 92 of the state Constitution and dismissed the government when it lost majority in the House.

He said the current situation was the most appropriate for the Governor to dismiss the government, as people had “lost faith” in it.

Srinagar, July 3
Banks operating in Jammu and Kashmir have identified 31,425 farmers for debt waiver (amounting to Rs 64.61 crore) and 2,445 beneficiaries for debt relief (amounting to Rs 8.36 crore) under one-time settlement.

This was stated at the third meeting of the Steering Committee of State Level Bankers (SLBC) on monitoring progress in implementation of the agriculture debt waiver/debt relief scheme-2008 held at J&K Bank corporate headquarters on June 30, a spokesman of the J&K Bank said today.

He said the meeting, which was attended by representatives of the RBI, J&K Finance Department, NABARD, J&K Bank, SBI and PNB, advised all the lending institutions operating in the state to prepare crystallised lists of beneficiaries under the scheme to be displayed at their branches for information of the beneficiaries.

Farmers have been advised to check their names in the list displayed in their respective bank branches. If there is any grievance with regard to debt waiver/debt relief they can lodge written complaints with the grievance redressal officer of the concerned bank branch, he said.

He said the bankers in the state were also advised to prepare district wise crystallised position under debt waiver and debt relief schemes of their bank in the state on the format in vogue to be submitted to convener SLBC, J&K Bank. The outcome of the schemes with respect to the seven identified special districts , Udhampur, Ramban, Reasi, Kishtwar, Doda, Leh and Kargil, would soon be reviewed. — PTI