Jammu/Srinagar: The over two-month long agitation in the Jammu region over the Amarnath land row was suspended on Sunday after a government panel and an alliance of Hindu groups reached an agreement.
The agreement gives exclusive rights to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) to use 40 hectares of forestland at Baltal in north Kashmir for three months. The time period includes two months of the Amaranth Yatra (pilgrimage) and another month for setting up and removing pre-fabricated shelters.
The SASB would be responsible for conducting the pilgrimage from two routes—the traditional Pahalgam route and the shorter route via Baltal—to the cave shrine.
The ownership of the land will not be changed and the SASB will have the right to use the land as it sees fit. The SASB will be reconstituted, but the Governor will remain its chief.
The fifth round of talks between the SASB and a panel set up by Governor N N Vohra began at around 0130 hrs IST on Sunday and lasted for three hours. Sudhir Singh Bloeria, advisor to the governor, and SASB convenor Leela Karan Sharma told a press conference at 0445 hrs IST that an agreement had been reached.
The state government had May 26 transferred a 40-hectare plot of land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board but withdrew this because of protests in the Muslim-dominated Kashmir Valley. The revocation on July 1 ignited an agitation in the Hindu majority Jammu region that lasted for 61 days.
Sharma described the agreement as the "victory of the people of Jammu" and said the Samiti had got "much more than it had fought for".
According to the agreement, "non-serious" criminal cases registered against agitators in Jammu would also be withdrawn. It also says that the authorities would take measures for soil conservation and preservation of ecology in the forestland.
The government also agreed to examine the 14-point charter of demands of the Samiti, which include withdrawal of criminal cases against various persons during the period of agitation, provisions of compensation to the families of the deceased and to the injured, on "time-bound" basis.
Curfew was clamped in Jammu city and the Army called out as a precautionary measure to prevent people from participating in the Vijay (victory) rally called by the Samiti keeping in view of reports of presence of militants who could use the occasion to trigger violence.
The People’s Democratic Party was not satisfied with the agreement but hasn’t rejected it outright. “We are not for the land transfer. We have rejected it in the past and we will reject it again, but they can come and use the land,” said party leader Mian Abdul Qayoom.
National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah welcomed the agreement and said it would help in bring peace to the state. “I think it's (the agreement) a very good sign. The hatred that was developing among communities has come to and end. I hope that people of Jammu and Kashmir will now leave in happiness,” he said.
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