IndiaPost.com - Amarnath stir: 3 die, 60 hurt in Jammu, Srinagar violence

JAMMU/SRINAGAR: Two youths were killed and at least 29 others injured in police firing in Jammu region which continued to simmer over the Amarnath land transfer row while one life was lost in fresh violence in Srinagar. Two persons were killed and 29 injured, 20 of them security force personnel, in Samba town of Jammu region as demonstrators demanding restoration of land to the Amarnath shrine board came out on the streets defying curfew.

Police resorted to baton-charge and tear gassing and when these proved ineffective, they opened fire in which Sanjeev Kumar (24) and Sunny Padha (30) were killed and one suffered injuries. Twenty security force personnel and eight civilians were injured in the pitched battles with the protesters. In Srinagar, Asif Mehraj was hit in the chest by a teargas shell fired by police during clashes with stone-pelting protesters in Maisuma locality, officials said.

Asif collapsed and was shifted to a hospital where doctors declared him brought dead. As soon as news of Asif's death spread, hundreds of men, women and children poured on to the streets and started pelting stones at the police who fired over 25 rounds of teargas shells to disperse the protesters. Another youth, Abid, was injured when the service rifle of a jawan went off accidentally as the funeral prayers of Mehraj were going on. Abid's condition was said to be stable.

At least 30 people, including 11 policemen and three CRPF personnel, were also injured in clashes in Srinagar that went through late evening. Meanwhile, the Amarnath Sangrash Samiti, an amalgam of 35 political, religious and social outfits, extended the shutdown in Jammu city by another five days.

The Samiti is demanding removal of Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra and immediate restoration of land to the Amarnath Shrine Board. Curfew was relaxed for varying periods in Jammu and Samba districts for some time while it remained strictly in force in rest of the region which is witnessing unrest since June-end over the land controversy. After the curfew was re-imposed, army conducted flag marches in sensitive areas in the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir. In Srinagar, the incident at the funeral ceremony triggered fresh violence, prompting police to fire a barrage of tear smoke shells.

Order was restored after JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik intervened and body of Mehraj was taken for burial to Dalgate graveyard. A magisterial probe was ordered into the police firing in Samba district. "We have ordered a magisterial probe into the police firing in Samba on protestors in which two persons were killed yesterday," District Magistrate, Samba, Surav Bhagat told PTI on phone. The probe will investigate what prompted police led by Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Prabhat Singh to open fire without magisterial orders, he said.

The probe order comes in the wake of allegations by the Shri Amarnath Sangrash Samiti (SASS) that the SSP took an AK rifle from his personal security officer after being hit by a stone and fired on protestors. Inspector General of Police, R K Saxena said a CRPF jawan fired a few rounds in the air, but no one died in that firing.

"The firing on protestors was resorted to by the police team led by the SSP," he said. Earlier, protests broke out in Srinagar during a strike called by Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani to express solidarity with Muslims of Jammu region who have reportedly been threatened and attacked by agitators demanding return of land to the Amarnath Shrine Board. The protesters clashed with police in Nowhatta, Maisuma and Bemina areas of the city in which two cops were injured after being hit by stones.

Meanwhile, Governor Vohra today visited Baltal and Domail to take stock of facilities for pilgrims. On the other hand, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh planned an All Party meeting in New Delhi as the Centre rushed two top bureaucrats -- Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta and Defence Secretary Vijay Singh -- to the state to assess the situation. Expressing concern over continued violent protests over Amarnath land transfer issue, spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar appealed for peace in Jammu.

Though people have the freedom to express their opinion, they cannot take recourse to violence, he said in a statement to the press. "The government has committed a big mistake by transferring the land to Amarnath Shrine Board and then revoking the same later in the face of protests. But recourse to violence is a bigger mistake" Ravi Shankar said.

He appealed to the people to adopt non-violent ways of protest and maintain communal harmony. In his bid to find a solution to the imbroglio, the spiritual leader has been in constant touch with leaders of different groups and had a telephonic conversation with hard-line Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra, the release said.