BJP slams J-K government's decision of revoking land allotment to Shrine Board
30 Jun 2008, 2032 Hrs

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Bhopal/Srinagar, June 30 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L K Advani slammed Jammu and Kashmir government's decision of revoking land allotment to Sri Amarnath Shrine Board.

"This is a complete surrender before communalism and I condemn it. I hope that the so called secularists will not surrender before communalism anywhere else in the country as they did in the Amarnath (Shrine) case. Amarnath is one of the most important of all the pilgrimages of the country," Advani told reporters in Bhopal today.

Meanwhile Srinagar was brought to a standstill as thousands of angry protesters rioted with police and shut down the region for the eighth day on Monday, even after authorities said the decision would be revoked.

In some of the biggest protests since a separatist revolt broke out in 1989, Kashmiris protested the transfer of about 100 acres to Amarnath Shrine Board to erect temporary shelters for thousands of pilgrims annually trekking to mountain shrine.

A week of protests, in which four people were shot dead by police, led the state government to say the land move would be revoked. But protesters say they would not stop until they saw the written order.

"In the entire disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir, this has been reflected that our lands, lives, dignity, faith, tradition and culture are unsafe under the military occupied region," Kashmir's senior separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani said while addressing a protest in Srinagar.

Shops, businesses, schools and government offices remained closed across the Kashmir valley, police said.

Hindus in Jammu protested the government's "back down" and carried out a strike.

A key partner in Kashmir's ruling coalition, the People's Democratic Party (PDP), withdrew its support on weekend over the land transfer.

During the pilgrimage, thousands of devout Hindus from across the country walk and ride ponies to the cave, situated at an altitude of 3,800 metres (12,700 feet), to pray by an ice stalagmite they believe is a symbol of Lord Shiva. (ANI)