A day before the all-party meeting called by the prime minister, two policemen were today lynched in Jorian in Jammu and Kashmir as violence flared up on the issue of revocation of land transfer to the Amarnath shrine board, with protesters torching police posts and vehicles and uprooting 1.5 km of railway track in several areas of Jammu. The clashes left 51 injured.
The two policemen were lynched after police opened fire in Jorian, where protesters burnt down a police post, a vehicle and the tehsildar’s office. As many as 29 people, including 13 policemen, were injured, forcing authorities to call the army.
In Akhnoor town, protesters demanding removal of Governor NN Vohra set fire to a police post and a tent housing security personnel.
Curfew was imposed in Kathua after police and protesters fought pitched battles in which 18 people, including five policemen, were injured, reports reaching Jammu said. The agitators set fire to a railway police post and a municipal office in Kathua.
Protesters uprooted 1.5 kms of railway track and stopped a special train for the army in Gagwal area in Samba district, where at least four people were injured in clashes.
Police lobbed teargas shells on stone-throwing protesters in Srinagar’s Maisuma locality, where a youth was killed yesterday after being hit by a teargas shell.
While four people were wounded in clashes, one person was injured when he was hit by a stone in the Budhshah Chowk area. Police also fired teargas shells on protesters in Nowhatta and Chanapora localities. Srinagar was deserted as schools, colleges, shops and business establishments remained closed in major areas. Police reports said there was tension in Sopore, Baramulla, Anantnag and Pulwama areas in the Valley.
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Meanwhile, a magisterial inquiry was today ordered into yesterday’s police firing in Jammu’s Samba district in which two persons were killed.
In New Delhi, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad accused political parties of playing votebank politics over the issue. Speaking on the recent developments in Jammu, engulfed by violence over the land transfer issue, Azad said, “No political party is presenting a clear picture and every one is playing votebank politics at the cost of human lives.”