Kashmiri Muslims protest against land transfer to Amarnath Shrine Board

The Kashmiri Muslims who do not want to give even few acres of land to Amarnath Shrine Board, are free to pack their belongings, leave Bharat and live in any other Muslim country like Pakistan or Saudi Arabia ! – Editor

Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir): Tens of thousands of Muslim demonstrators filled the streets in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Friday, burning flags and effigies of Indian leaders on a fifth day of protests against the transfer of land to a Hindu shrine of Amarnath. (Police and security agencies should deal strongly with such anti-nationals ! – Editor)

Protesters clashed with riot police officers in several parts of Srinagar, the main city in the region, which has a Muslim majority. The police responded with tear gas, said Prabhakar Tripathi, a spokesman for the Central Reserve Police Force.

Three people have died and dozens of others, including at least 22 police officers, have been wounded since Monday, as the police have struggled to control angry mobs protesting the transfer of 99 acres of land by the state government to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, a trust running the popular Hindu shrine.

Protesters accuse the Indian government of planning to build Hindu settlements in India’s only Muslim-majority state in an effort to change the demographic balance in the region. (Then what about so many mosques and Haj Houses built by the Government in many of the Hindu majority states ? Also if Kashmiri Muslims feel that it is an effort to change the demographic balance, then Hindus should also oppose each and every settlement of Muslims in the states where Hindus are in majority ! – Editor)

Anti-Indian sentiment is strong in Kashmir, where nearly a dozen militant groups have been fighting since 1989 for independence or a merger with neighboring Pakistan. But Kashmiris had been enjoying a period of relative calm until this week’s protests, which rank among the angriest displays in two decades.

In an effort to ease tensions, the chief minister of the state of Jammu and Kashmir promised Wednesday that there would be no construction on the transferred land and pledged to meet with local political parties to address the protesters’ grievances. (Hindus should protest strongly and lawfully against such appeasement of fanatics, which is purely votebank politics. It is Hindus' right to get land for Amarnath Shrine Board ! – Editor)

The Amarnath shrine is a cave that houses a large ice stalagmite revered by Hindus as an incarnation of Siva, the god of destruction and reproduction. Hundreds of thousands of Hindus are descending on the area as part of an annual pilgrimage to the cave.

This year, as in the past, thousands of soldiers are guarding the pilgrims’ route. In previous years, the pilgrims made tempting targets for militant Islamist separatists, who claim that India, which has a Hindu majority, uses the event to bolster its claim over the Kashmir region.

Source: The New York Times