govt revokes land transfer, to take over yatra

NDTV Correspondent
Sunday, June 29, 2008 (Srinagar)
In a bid to put an end to the Amarnath yatra land controversy, J&K government has decided to take over the responsibility of Amarnath yatra from the shrine board.Responsibility of providing shelter at Baltal is also taken over by state government. The security and safety of yatris now is with state government.The Amarnath land crisis is technically over, in which about three people died and over 500 injured in last one week.J&K Governor's Principal Secretary Arun Kumar, who is also the CEO of Sri Amarnath Shrine Board, has been removed. B B Vyas would be the Interim Principal Secretary to Governor.The Jammu and Kashmir government has now said it is scrapping the transfer of state land to the Amarnath shrine board. In a letter to the Governor N N Vohra, the Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said that the state was ready to undertake all the logical requirements of the Amarnath yatra. But people in Jammu are unhappy with the government's latest move. They want the control of the Amarnath yatra to remain with the shrine board and not the state government.PDP President Mehbooba Mufti has said that her party is with the government on this issue.Azad's statement comes a day after coalition partners PDP pulled out the Congress-led coalition in the state over the shrine board land transfer issue. The party had insisted that the transfer of land should be scrapped. The Chief Minister has also accepted PDP minister's resignations and forwarded it to the Governor on Sunday.PDP's withdrawal from the coalition government has reduced the Congress-led government to a minority. The PDP wants the transfer land revoked, though the Congress says no construction will take place till the matter is sorted out.In an exclusive interview to NDTV, the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Ghulam Nabi Azad has said that he intended to last out the full term of this government even without PDP's support. Though its still unclear how he intends to do that.Meanwhile, there's a curfew-like situation on the ground and the police are asking the residents to stay indoors. At least 40 people were injured on Saturday in fresh clashes over the row. It's been a week since the protests started in the Valley in a dispute, which has taken on a distinctly communal colour between protestors who say the government is trying to populate the state with `outsiders' and those who say Hindus are being denied their rights in the Muslim majority state.

In other words, the Muslims of Kashmir have nipped in the bud any possibility of Hindus managing even their temples independently while they themselves want an independent nation.