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| After protests, Celebrations rock City | | | Early Times Reporter
Jammu | Aug 31
Jammu has a secular tradition of celebrating all religious festivals together –Diwali, Eid, Gurupurb, Christmas –all see the town painted in festive colours but never in the history of this City –and many other parts of region –celebrations have been seen at a note the way town is witnessing since wee hours of this morning.
By around 2 AM past last midnight when some national news channels beamed the unconfirmed reports, attributed to the sources, that 800 kanals of land in Baltal and Domail in Kashmir has been agreed by the government to be put at the disposal of Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, the town immediately burst into a festive mode. Fire crackers, drum beats and patriotic songs threw people on the streets dancing to the tunes of victory. The same streets of Jammu which have been witness to stone pelting, tear gas shells and suffocating smokes were today scene of massive celebrations.
The decision was officially announced by Governor’s Advisor Dr Sudhir Singh Bloeria and Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti convener Leela Karan Sharma at a joint press conference held here at around 5AM. Announcment of this decision, which had a deferred live telecast on the local cable television network, was just a formality for hundreds and thousands of people who had already hit streets with celebrations.
The Sunday was unique in Jammu. No Diwali, Eid or any other religious festival, perhaps anywhere in the country can expect such festivity the way people celebrated their victory. The deafening sound of fire cracker was much higher than once could have heard when India wins cricket match over Pakistan.
The only regret however was that Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti could not go ahead with its “Vijay Rally”. The SAYSS had scheduled a Sangharsh Rally for August 31 but it was announced to be converted into “Vijay Rally” after the fourth round of successful talks with the government. However, following intelligence inputs about presence of militants in the town, the administration persuaded the SAYSS to put off its rally.
Protesters defied curfew and came out to join the Vijay rally called by Shri Amanath Sangharsh Samiti (SASS) after the govt panel allowed the use of 100-acres of disputed land to the Shrine Board after 61-day of agitation. The curfew was imposed after reports of militants being seen in the Chinore area. The administration was apprehensive that militants may target the Vijay rally. Combing operations are on in the area. Irate protesters clashed with the armed forces in Jammu and pelted stones at them. Police had to resort to batoncharge to control the angry mob.
"We have imposed curfew to stop people from assembling and taking part in the major rally in view of intelligence reports of presence of some militants in Jammu," district's Deputy Commissioner Mandeep K Bhandari said.
He said there was expectation of three to four lakh people converging at the rally called by SAYSS to celebrate victory. In view of the apprehensions of some militants presence in the outskirts of the city, there was a threat to the rally, he added.
Militants can use this occasion to trigger violence, he said, adding that due to this reason curfew has been clamped here.
"We had urged Sangarsh Samiti to postpone the rally; he said adding that they told us they will go ahead with the rally. "There is a security concern and that is why curfew was the only alternative," Bhandari added.
S S Bloeria, Advisor to the Governor, had asked SAYSS convenor Leela Karan Sharma to postpone the rally in view of intelligence reports stating presence of militants in the city. |
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