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Amarnath talks fail; curfew re-imposed in Jammu

Jammu: Curfew was re-imposed in Jammu and its peripheral areas in the wake of violent protests on Friday, even as the Sangharsh Samiti fighting for the allotment of land to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board declared that its talks with the Governor had failed.

Governor N.N. Vohra had initiated the talks with the Samiti — a conglomerate of 35 political, social and religious organisations. Senior officials, including Principal Secretary (Home) Anil Goswami and Director-General of Police Kuldeep Khuda, participated in the meeting at the Raj Bhavan.

The Samiti leaders later issued a statement about the collapse of the talks. “It is pointless to talk to the Governor again unless he sends us a concrete proposal on the land issue,” Tilak Raj Sharma, spokesperson for Sangharsh Samiti, told reporters here.

However, the Governor met prominent citizens in the morning and held an all-party meeting in the evening in which Congress leader Mangat Ram Sharma, the former Chief Minister and National Conference patron, Farooq Abdullah, People’s Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader M.Y. Tarigami participated.

There were angry demonstrations when Dr. Abdullah and Ms. Mufti landed here. A group of protesters laid siege to the main road leading to the airport. However, the authorities managed to bring them both to the Raj Bhavan after a three-hour effort.

But protesters soon arrived at the Raj Bhavan complex. Some of them set fire to the Panjthirti police station. Police fired teargas shells to disperse them. The administration then ordered immediate re-imposition of curfew in Jammu district.

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