Thursday, August 7, 2008

Amarnath row:PM,Sonia seek Advani's opinion...!

*With protests over the revocation of land to Amarnath shrine board refusing to die down, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi sought the opinion of Leader of Opposition L K Advani on Monday on the issue.
Dr Singh and Gandhi, along with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, had the discussion with Advani on the issue during the State dinner hosted for visiting Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai in New Delhi on Monday. "Advaniji told the prime minister and Sonia Gandhi that some corrective measures were required to bring the situation back to normal," a senior BJP lawmaker told media persons. ''Corrective measures' was a reference to taking back of the land revocation order, the lawmaker said. Advani reportedly told the three leaders that the current situation was a result of 'government's pandering to the separatist forces'.The leader of opposition is said to have suggested that the Union government should discuss the matter with the Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti -- which is spearheading the agitation-to find a solution. Meanwhile, the prime minister has called an all-party meeting on Wednesday to find a solution to the Amarnath agitation, which has thrown life out of gear in the Jammu region since it started nearly 35 days ago. Dr Singh had invited Advani to his residence last week to discuss the Amarnath issue, along with internal security and other matters. This was followed by a telephone call from Sonia Gandhi to BJP President Rajnath Singh to discuss the same issue.
**Tension over Amarnath row: curfew imposed in Jammu:-Curfew was imposed in entire Jammu today as massive rallies continued in many parts of the district today over the Amarnath land row but protesters defied the restrictions and burnt a police station and 14 houses as police had to fire in the air to disperse them. Police fired teargas shells and baton charged protesters who went on the rampage and set afire the Panjtirthi police station here, officials said."We have imposed curfew as a precautionary measure in view of high level of tension in Jammu due to massive rallies in several parts of the district," Jammu Deputy Commissioner Mandeep K Bhandari said. Curfew was first imposed on July one but lifted and reimposed several times during the agitation that entered the 33rd day.

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