The Hindu : Front Page : Rail link to J&K snapped

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Wednesday, Aug 06, 2008
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Rail link to J&K snapped

Luv Puri and Shujaat Bukhari

— Photo: PTI

NO holiday: Children in their school uniforms link up for safety on an uneasy street in Srinagar on Tuesday. A call to blockade the Jammu-Srinagar highway, over the Amarnath land issue, triggered violent protests in the city.

Jammu/Srinagar: A day before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s all-party meet to defuse tensions on the Amarnath land row, there was no let-up in protests in the Jammu region and Srinagar.

The agitators, protesting against the withdrawal of order on land transfer to Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, removed a stretch of the railway track in Gagwal area of Samba district of Jammu, severing the only rail link of the State with the rest of the country. They also attacked public property in some areas.

Curfew remained in force in Jammu district and Samba, Bhaderwah, Udhampur, and Rajouri towns of the Jammu region.

Fifty-six people were injured in fresh violence in the region. In Akhnoor, 15 persons were injured when police cane charged and teargassed a mob throwing stones. In Jourian Palanwalla area, police fired on protesters attacking and setting fire to the police station and a revenue office. (Agencies reported that two policemen were lynched in the area.) A magisterial probe has been ordered into Monday’s police firing on protesters in Samba in which two persons were killed.

Congress leaders and intellectuals have suggested a compromise formula. It includes an amendment to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board Act to take only State subjects on the Board. The fears of a demographic change with any land diversion to the Shrine Board could then be allayed.

In Srinagar, 18 people were injured in clashes between police and agitators protesting the call to block the highway.

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