rediff.com asked prominent experts their opinion on the crisis and their suggestions to the central government on how to tackle the issue.
The Central team, which is in Jammu to take stock of the situation in the state over the Amarnath land row, will meet delegates of the Shri Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti at 4.30 pm on Saturday evening. Leaders from the Kashmir Valley, including National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti and Saifuddin Soz, will be kept out of the meet as demanded by the Samiti.
Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil arrived in Jammu on Saturday with an all-party delegation and asked the Jammu and Kashmir administration to adopt a balanced approach while dealing with the current situation in the wake of violent protests over the Amarnath land trasfer issue.
The 18-member all-party delegation headed by Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil arrived in Jammu on Saturday to review the situation following recent violent protests, but the Shri Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti, which is leading the agitation over land transfer issue, refused to hold talks with the team members.
Kashmiri Pandits complain that the Jammu and Kashmir government has simply cowered to hardline sentiments and that the real reason for canceling the pilgrimage was not due to ecological concerns but because of religion. Upasna Pandey reports
Bharatiya Jan Shakti leader Uma Bharti on Wednesday created a flutter outside Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's residence after she was barred from attending the all-party meeting on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
A magisterial probe was on ordered into the police firing in Samba district in which two persons were killed and 18 injured during a protest rally over the Amarnath land transfer row.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday flayed Dr Farooq Abdullah, who claimed that the media had distorted his son Omar Abdullah's comments on the Amarnath yatra issue.
Although the curfew was lifted on Tuesday from Jammu and the adjoining areas, the region witnessed protest rallies yet again, demanding the removal of Governor N N Vohra and the restoration of forest land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board.
'Kashmiris are very adaptable people. They will wait. From India's point of view, I think we have lost a great opportunity. I don't think we should keep talking to Pakistan. We should talk to the Kashmiris. Ultimately, this matter has to be settled between New Delhi and Srinagar,' says A S Dulat, expert on Kashmir.
Curfew was lifted in Kathua and Samba towns in Jammu on Tuesday following the return of normalcy in the areas that were rocked by violence over the Amarnath land row.
Fresh violence erupted in Indore on Friday, leading to the imposition of curfew in the entire city, a day after four persons were killed in clashes during the Bharatiya Janata Party Vishwa Hindu Parishad sponsored bandh against the revocation of land to Amarnath shrine board.
Lt Gen (retd) S K Sinha, till recently Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, on Thursday launched a frontal attack on the state's main political parties, especially PDP and its patron Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, accusing him of being "hand in glove" with separatists and fundamentalists. At the centre of controversy over the land for Amarnath yatra which paralysed the valley in recent days, Sinha denounced PDP as "anti-national".
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal on Wednesday warned that they will not allow pilgrims to reach the Ajmer Dargah, where the annual Urs has begun, unless the Jammu and Kashmir government withdraws its latest order revoking the transfer of forest land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board.Bajrang Dal Rajasthan unit's convenor Mahendra Singh Meena said that Hindu activists of the saffron outfits would block buses carrying pilgrims in Rajasthan during the two-day bandh.
Due to the volatile situation that erupted on Tuesday in the entire Jammu city after the state government revoked the land allotment order to the SASB, the authorities have now deployed more units of paramilitary and police forces in Jammu city. The police were seen asking people to return to their homes in view of the indefinite curfew. The administration is worried about the the deterioration of the situation in Jammu city despite round the clock curfew.
Two BJP activists were injured in skirmishes with the police as demonstrators burnt tyres and torched effigies of the governor, Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Peoples Democratic Party patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the police said.
A Central Reserve Police Force jawan was injured in fresh clashes between security forces and protesters here over the controversial land transfer to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board even as life in the city and other major towns of the Kashmir valley remained crippled for the fifth day on Friday.
About half a dozen senior leaders of both the factions of the Hurriyat Conference were on Monday put under house arrest to prevent them from participating in the scheduled demonstrations against the transfer of forest land to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board. However, police raided the Hyderpora residence of chairman of the breakaway HC Syed Ali Shah Geelani several times, who had already left for some undisclosed place.
A naval officer and his girlfriend, a Kannada film actress, were arrested in connection with the murder of creative head of a television production house.
This Kannada movie is absolute nonsense from start to finish. Murali, Sharmila Mandre have been wasted. Technical values are good, though the script is a let down. It is neither entertaining or logical.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday briefed President Pratibha Patil on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of the Amarnath land row. During the 45-minute meeting, Dr Singh apprised her of the steps taken by the Centre to restore normalcy in the state, official sources said.
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