* Rajnath speaks to Omar, assesses situation
Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, July 18: Forty two people including 12 policemen were injured in group clashes that broke out today near Baltal, the base camp of Amarnath Yatra, after a dispute between pony owners and those running community kitchens (langar wallas) resulting into suspension of yatra to holy cave for the day.
The situation is tense in entire Baltal and Dumel area following the clashes between the two groups.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah over phone about the violence and asked him to take all necessary steps to control the situation.
The Chief Minister assured him that all steps will be taken to maintain law and order and said that the State Government has sent officials to the spot for necessary action.
The violence broke after an altercation between the pony wallas and the workers of a community kitchen late last night at Dumel. The reports said that the pony wallas had misbehaved with a yatri which was objected by the workers of a community kitchen and it led to a clash between the two in which one pony walla namely Naib Sadar Khan was injured.
He was however given a first aid at local medical aid centre and later shifted to Soura Medical institute for treatment where his condition is stated to be stable.
As the news of attack on pony walla spread, the other pony wallas along with pitho wallas and Dhandi wallas assembled from nearby by places and pelted stones on langar wallas and yatris. They also set the community kitchen on fire. Besides the tents of langar wallas were also set ablaze resulting into the injury to 25 people, reports said. Total 10 langars were set ablaze by violent mob. Even some huts of Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) were also damaged by stone pelting, reports added.
Some people also received injuries after the cylinder blasts in the ‘langars’ which were set ablaze by the mob.
Though the langar wallas and yatris also tried to resist the attack and they also attacked the tents of the pony wallas and pitho wallas, but later sensing trouble they took refuge in CRPF barracks and the mob attacked them too. To quell the violence, the CRPF cordoned off the area and fired teargas shells in the air.
To control the fire authorities had pressed 18 fire tenders into service which after a lot struggle for hours together managed to control the fire.
However the local administration and police did not interfere till the situation went out of control. Instead of taking a prompt action the local police looked as a mute spectator and they also clashed with CRPF, eyewitnesses said.
The yatris have blamed the administration for not taking timely action and allowed the situation to take critical turn. Deputy Commissioner Ganderbal and SSP Ganderbal also reached the spot late in the afternoon.
Reports said over 4000 yatris were stranded at Baltal since this morning as yatra was suspended. Sumit Sharma a yatri from Jammu said that they could not take any thing since the morning as all langars have been torched and there is nothing available to eat at Baltal.
He said there is lot of panic and no one from administration came to take the stock of situation and talk to yatris as panic gripped entire Baltal base camp.
Ram Kumar a yatri from Bihar said it was a field day for hooligans who ransacked the langars and torched them and also thrashed yatris as the police and local administration looked like a mute spectator.
However, Yatra officer at Baltal, Dushyant Sharma told the Excelsior tonight that from 11 p.m. onwards, police have started clearing all stranded pilgrims. All yatris will be cleared from Baltal to Jammu in the night, he added and said situation, at present, was normal.
While the police spokesman maintained that only 12 people were injured, sources said that as many as 42 people were injured which included a few with burn injuries.
However an official spokesman said the situation has been brought under control and senior police and civil administration officials are on the spot to resolve the issue.
While officially police said that they had registered a case, sources said that as many as three CRPF personnel were detained by the local police.
Reacting to the developments, CRPF claimed that 10 community kitchen were set on fire by protesters resulting in injury to its 12 jawans.
Meanwhile, police said that yatra has been suspended in view of the violence and a convoy en-route to the cave shrine was stopped as a precautionary measure.
Tension also gripped Picturesque Sonamarg Kulan and Kangan townships on Baltal route and the shopkeepers downed their shutters for some time. The police was deployed in the markets to avert any untoward incident, reports said.
Reports said the yatris were also not allowed to move ahead of Manigam camp in view of the violent incidents at Baltal today.
The yatra has been stopped at Nowgam-Jawahar tunnel area in Banihal belt as a precaution in view of the clashes between two groups of people at Baltal, police said.
The pilgrims were not allowed to move into Kashmir via Jawahar tunnel from Banihal belt of Ramban district.
Amid tight security, the 22nd batch of 1,765 pilgrims, including 1244 men, 409 women and 20 children, left from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu in a cavalcade of 62 vehicles this morning
With today’s batch, 41,023 pilgrims have far left from the Jammu base camp for the Amarnath shrine.
However a police spokesman said that some minor squabble between people in Baltal Base Camp took place today and the situation was brought under control without any injury to any one. He said some tents and few langars have caught fire. Police and fire service departments are on job to control fire, he added.
IGP Kashmir Abdul Gani Mir said that it was a minor incident and the yatra continued as usual. All the yatris and locals are safe and the situation is under control, he added.
He said presence of gas cylinders in some tents took some time in controlling the fire.
However the CEO, SASB Rakesh Kumar Gupta told Excelsior that 1500 pilgrims are at Base Camp and they have been provided proper shelter. He said a high level meeting will take place late to night which will be attended by top civil and police officers to defuse the situation. The meeting after reviewing the situation will also take a decision on forward movement of yatra tomorrow.
Meanwhile Minister of PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, Sham Lal Sharma along with senior officers of civil and police administration visited Baltal and took stock of the situation there.
The Minister also interacted with the officials of SASB langar wallas and poni wallas to have the feedback about the incident. He urged the service providers to maintain peace and order to ensure smooth yatra.
He also urged the administration to probe the matter and take stern action against the guilty. The Minister was accompanied by Principal Secretary to Governor and CEO SASB, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir and senior police officers.
However 11,075 pilgrims paid obeisance at holy cave and with this total number of pilgrims performing darshan at cave shrine since 45 day yatra started on June 28 reached 2,76,573.
Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh today asked the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, to take steps to control the situation at Baltal area of Sonamarg where clashes broke out this morning between pony walls and langar wallas.
Singh spoke to Chief Minister over telephone and discussed the Baltal situation with Chief Minister.
Omar appraised Singh about the situation and informed that the State Government has sent officials to the spot for necessary action.
The Home Minister asked Chief Minister to take all necessary steps to control the situation in the Baltal area at an earliest.
Earlier, today afternoon Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, MoS in Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Space & Atomic Energy, accompanied by Avinash Khanna, MP and Chief Whip in Rajya Sabha called upon Home Minister Rajnath Singh in the morning and expressed their concern for the clashes between two groups of people that took place at Baltal enroute to Amarnath Yatra.
In response to their demands for immediate intervention, Mr Rajnath Singh assured that he would ask the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah to take all necessary steps in the matter and report back to him.
Later in the evening, Home Minister, Rajnath Singh rang up Dr Jitendra Singh in his office chamber in North Block and conveyed to him that he had spoken with Chief Minister and that necessary steps had been taken for controlling the situation.
Governor, N N Vohra who is also the chairman of SASB has appealed the people for peace. The Governor after coming to know about the untoward incidents at Baltal asked the Chief Executive Officer of the Board, Rakesh Kumar Gupta to immediately proceed to the camp and see the harmony is fully restored with the help of district administration. Mr Vohra also discussed the matter with Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, on whose directions Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Shailendra Kumar and IGP, Kashmir, Abdul Gani Mir also rushed to Baltal.
The Governor also spoke to the president of SABLO, the apex langar organization, Vijay Thakur and urged him to ensure restoration of harmony, essential for the satisfactory progress of yatra.
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