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New Delhi: About 50 Kashmiri Pandits protesting against the revocation of the land allotment to the Amarnath shrine trust were on Sunday detained after they barged into Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz's home in the capital.
The Jantar Mantar monument became the meeting ground for the protesters.
"The protesters, including women and children, marched from Jantar Mantar to 12, Akbar Road, Soz's residence," a police official said.
The police detained around 50 protesters after they knocked down barricades and forced their way into Soz's residence.
Soz is a senior Congress leader from Kashmir.
"Security forces threw out protesters who took to vandalising the house whereupon they held a sit-in outside the residence. They also burnt Soz's effigy," the official said.
However, the protesters denied allegations that they had damaged property at Soz's house.
"We carried out a peaceful march and were shouting slogans in front of the minister's house when the security men deployed there misbehaved with the women and children taking part in the protest," said Aditya Raj Kaul, a member of the Roots in Kashmir group.
"The security men slapped us and the police are not registering our complaint against them," Kaul said.
The Jammu and Kashmir government ordered the transfer of 40 hectares of forest land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board in March to build boarding facilities for pilgrims visiting the cave shrine of Amarnath but subsequently cancelled the order following violent protests in the Kashmir valley. The new decision last week sparked another round of protests in Jammu and elsewhere.
Stranded
Rains halt pilgrimage
The passage to the Amarnath cave shrine was suspended yesterday following heavy rainfall along both the north and south Kashmir routes.
"All pilgrims scheduled to undertake the 12-km long trek from the Baltal base camp to the cave have been halted at Baltal because of heavy rains and extremely slippery conditions," said a police officer.
Reports from the south Kashmir Pahalgam route also said heavy rains had forced the authorities to halt the pilgrims at the Nunwan base camp.
"The Kashmir Valley is going to have rains for the next two days... This is mainly on account of the monsoon although it is accompanied by a mild western disturbance," a weather office official said.
- IANS
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