Date:02/07/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/02/stories/2008070261380100.htm

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Land allotment to Shrine Board cancelled

Shujaat Bukhari

Tourism Department will get land to provide facilities for yatris

Parties welcome decision, strike called off
75 injured in Jammu violence during protests against cancellation of order

SRINAGAR: In a bid to end the 10-day-long crisis, the Jammu and Kashmir government on Tuesday cancelled the order of transfer of 39.88 hectares of forest land to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board.

Mainstream parties welcomed the decision and the Action Committee Against Land Transfer called off the strike, planned for Wednesday, and asked people to resume normal life. Its chairman Mian Abdul Qayoom said it was a victory for the people of KashmirThe Cabinet, which met with Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad in the chair, decided to cancel the allotment of 39.88 hectares of forest land “diverted to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board at Baltal and Domail.”

The Cabinet decided that land for Amarnath pilgrims will be made available to the Tourism Department “at various locations from Jammu onwards to the Holy Cave via Baltal-Domail as well as Pahalgam yatra routes,” according to Chief Secretary S.S. Kapur. It reiterated the commitment to provide infrastructure and logistical support for the yatra.

The Opposition National Conference president Omar Abdullah welcomed the decision saying that “no party should have any objection as the arrangements of yatra will be the State’s responsibility now.”

People’s Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti, while welcoming the decision, could not understand land transfer to the Tourism Department. CPI(M) State secretary M.Y. Tarigami and People’s Democratic Front president Hakeem Yaseen, while hailing the decision, hoped that it would end the political stalemate and the strike.

In Jammu, 75 people, including an MP, were injured in violence during protests against the cancellation of land allotment. The protests were called by the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena and Bajrang Dal. Curfew was clamped in parts of Jammu.