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As the Jammu-violence on the issue of Amarnath land row is getting worse day by day, eight members of the Shri Amaranth Shrine Board (SASB) out of total ten resigned on Wednesday to facilitate re-constitution of the board.

The members submitted their resignation to state Governor N N Vohra. The other two members left in the board includes the state Governor himself and the CEO of the board, who happens to be the Principal Secretary to the Governor. According to the sources, the new board will have members only from the state of J&K.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will meet top leaders of political parties on Wednesday to discuss measures to calm the situation in the state. Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BJP chief Rajnath Singh and top leaders of Left parties leaders are expected to attend the meeting.

Amid the continuous violence, the Kashmir Traders Federation decided to boycott Jammu products. The Traders Federation has said that it will snap all business ties with traders in Jammu region and instead buy products directly from other markets like Amritsar and Delhi.

“We have decided not to buy any product from traders in Jammu and instead buy products directly from other markets like Delhi and Amritsar,” Chairman of the Traders Federation Jan Mohammad Koul told news agencies in Srinagar.

Koul accused the Centre which fails to provide protection to the traders of Kashmir. He further added, “The situation in the aftermath of economic blockade of the Valley and attacks on minority community in Jammu has made it clear that it is part of a well-thought out conspiracy and the Centre is involved in it.”

He criticized the government and complaints that truck loads are not being allowed to move to Kashmir and instead of doing anything, government is watching the scenario like a mute spectator only.

Koul said, “We will not cooperate with the traders of Jammu anymore. We are not going to buy any goods from them … we have decided to boycott Jammu traders.”

Telling that they will find new markets in other cities, he said, “We will continue our struggle for an alternative route to the Valley.”

The violence over the land allocation for Amarnath pilgrims has rocked the state for the last many days.

Tags: amarnath land row, amarnath shrine board, boycott, Jammu, Jammu Kashmir, jammu products, SASB, Violence

Amarnath shrine land transfer issue is getting worse day by day as curfew has been extended by five days in Jammu and adjoining areas.

Jammu, Samba, Rajouri and Udhampur have already been under curfew for nearly a month due to the ongoing unrest of the month old agitation. Meanwhile, army has been called in to keep the situation under control.

A day-long strike has been called to protest against violence, blockades and harassment of Muslims in Jammu region. The strike was called by breakaway Hurriyat Conference faction led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Around 37 people were injured in the clashes on Sunday.

Talking on the issue of blocking two local TV news channels and sealed the offices of two Hindi dailies for allegedly whipping up communal passions, Chief Secretary S S Kapur had said, “They were repeatedly asked not to telecast provocative and inflammatory content,” Kapur said.

He said the channels were violating the programme code under the Cable Network (Regulation) Act, 1995. “The administration had earlier issued notices to the channels, but they kept on transmitting highly objectionable and provocative material. Our patience was exhausted and we decided to act” he said.

“Since the two channels are also cable service providers without signal separators, the transmission of other channels was disrupted,” he explained.

Protesters torched four houses in R S Pura near Jammu and stoned vehicles damaging four trucks in Hira Nagar.

The agitation is going for the restoration of 40 hectares of forest land in north Kashmir to the SASB that was given to the shrine board May 26 and then withdrawn July 1.

Tags: Amarnath, amarnath land, amarnath land row, curfew, Jammu, Jammu Kashmir

Failing to secure majority support in the 87-member state assembly, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has resigned from his position on Monday.

Embarrassed Azad withdrew the confidence motion which was to be put to vote to prove his support in the house and announced his decision to resign at the end of his emotionally-charged one and a-half hour long speech on the confidence motion he moved this morning in the house.

“I am satisfied with my work. The motive I came with, I have largely achieved it. I don’t care who will be the chief minister. I don’t care whether the government survives or falls… I have shown the way,” Azad said in his speech which highlighted his government’s achievements during the last two- and-a-half years.

After the announcement Azad proceeded to Raj Bhavan to formally hand over his resignation letter to the governor N.N.Vohra.

The resignation comes as a surprise in view of Azad’s assertions over past week that he had the required majority in the house.

The one-day session of the state assembly had been convened on the instance of state governor N.N.Vohra who had asked Azad to prove his majority in the house, following withdrawal of support by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the key coalition partner on June 28.

PDP, led by former Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, had on June 28 withdrawn support to the Azad-led government in the wake of massive protests in the Valley on the Amarnath land transfer issue.

Tags: Azad, Gulam Nabi Azad, J&K, Jammu, Jammu Kashmir, Kashmir