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Army opens fire in Kathua, one killed

Luv Puri

Protesters tried to block entry of essential commodities to the Kashmir valley

— Photo: PTI

UNSTOPPABLE: Protesters cross the Tawi as the police tried to block the main bridge on Wednesday to prevent them from marching to Jammu.

JAMMU: For the first time since the agitation on the Amarnath land row started, the Army opened fire on protesters in Kathua when they tried to block the entry of essential commodities to the Kashmir valley. Mass protests continued as they defied curfew orders at various places.

Around 2 p.m. the troops fired on protesters at Palli Morh on the Jammu-Pathankot National Highway in Kathua. One person, identified as Narinder Sharma, was killed while two others were injured when they tried to disrupt an Army convoy escorting the supplies by pelting stones, a top police official told The Hindu.

Later the protesters placed the body of Sharma on the highway and squatted there.

Similar protests were witnessed in Nagrota as the people tried to block the highway.

Protesters mobilised people from the rural areas of Jammu and marched to Jammu city breaching police and Army cordons. When the police tried to block the main bridge, people swam across the Tawi river.

The protesters attacked the house of the former Minister, Manjit Singh. He was elected on the Bahujan Samaj Party ticket from the Vijaypur Assembly segment in 2002 and later joined the PDP. Police opened fire to disperse the crowd.

The rail connection with the rest of the country was restored on Wednesday.

Shutdown in valley

Agency reports said that life in the Kashmir valley was thrown out of gear following a strike call given by the Syed Ali Shah Geelani-led hardline faction of the Hurriyat Conference. Shops, business establishments, schools, government and private offices remained closed across the valley, official sources said in Srinagar. Vehicles also remained off the roads.

The Shri Amarnathji Yatra Sangarsh Samiti (SAYSS), which is spearheading the ongoing agitation in Jammu, has rejected Governor N.N. Vohra’s invitation to the Samiti to visit Baltal, the base camp to the shrine to assess the facilities needed. “We have received a letter from (Governor) Vohra to visit the site. We turn it down. We have already made the SAYSS stand clear to the Governor that nothing short of revocation of cancellation order and restoration of powers to the Board will be acceptable,” SAYSS convener Leela Karan Sharma said.

He added that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should talk to the people of Jammu for resolving the issue and not the parties which did not represent the region, in an obvious reference to the People’s Democratic Party and the National Conference.

The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and BJP leader, L.K. Advani, has said that communal harmony in Jammu should be maintained at all costs. He appreciated the Muslims in the region for cooperating with the SAYSS, a press statement issued by social activist and journalist Balraj Puri said.

The statement, based on his telephonic conversation with Mr. Advani, quoted the latter as saying that attempts by some anti-social elements trying to communalise the situation against the wishes of the Samiti harmed the long-term interests of Jammu and the nation.

Mr. Advani also strongly disapproved of any move for blockade of supplies to the Kashmir valley and export of goods from there. Mr. Advani has appealed to those who were doing it to lift it immediately, the statement said.

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