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60 injured in Jammu violence

Luv Puri

Protesters make attempts to violate curfew to protest against order revocation

— Photo: AP

On guard: Policemen patrolling a deserted street during a curfew in Jammu on Wednesday.

Jammu: Sixty people were injured in different parts of the Jammu region in fresh violence on Wednesday. The Army conducted flag marches to quell agitators, who made fresh attempts to violate curfew to protest against the State government’s decision to revoke its order on land allotment to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board.

Thirteen people, including a CRPF jawan, were injured in a grenade attack by militants in the Bhaderwah area of Doda district on a group of protesters.

The agitators congregated near a temple after a rally in the town. Three people, who were critically injured, were airlifted to Jammu. Curfew was imposed in the Bhaderwah area to avert any communal clash.

In Jammu, on the second day of the 72-hour bandh called by the BJP, Bajrang Dal and the Shiv Sena, there were violations of the curfew order in several areas.

The Army carried out flag marches in Samba on the request of the local administration as protesters repeatedly violated curfew.

Ten people were injured in fresh clashes in the Kashmiri Pandit-dominated areas such as Muthi, Nagrota and Purkhoo as the police resorted to cane charge and fired in the air to deter the protesters. There were fresh protests in the curfew-bound northern and southern parts of Jammu and in Digianna and Domanna.

Property of the People’s Democratic Party and Congress leaders were targeted by protesters.

Traffic on the Jammu-Pathankot, Jammu-Srinagar and Jammu-Poonch Highways remained disrupted. Life in Jammu was hit as supply of essential services such as supply of milk, ration and petrol was disrupted.

Protesters rejected an invitation by Health Minister and Congress leader Mangat Ram Sharma for talks. He appealed for maintaining peace.

Valley back to normal

Shujaat Bukhari writes from Srinagar:

After a 10-day-long strike and protests during which five people were killed and nearly 1000 injured, normality returned to the Kashmir Valley on Wednesday. This followed the revocation of the land transfer order issued in favour of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, on Tuesday.

As the news of the revocation of the order spread, the Valley witnessed jubilant scenes. People came out on streets, burst crackers, danced to drumbeats and shouted victory slogans.On Wednesday, in Maisuma area, people took to the Lal Chowk shouting pro-freedom slogans. The procession was led by Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Yasin Malik. Similar processions were taken out in Baramulla, Kupwara, Pulwama, Anantnag, Kulgam, Bandipore and Shopian.

Amid these developments, the Amarnath Yatra is on. Many pilgrims visited the holy cave through the Baltal and Pahalgam base camps on Wednesday.

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