At least 15 people, including a senior superintendent of police, were injured on Monday when protestors clashed with security forces in Digiana and Kathua areas of Jammu province during the chakka jaam agitation called by the Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangarsh Samiti.
A large group of protestors took out a procession on the national highway at Digiana around noon, official sources said. The police resorted to lathicharge and burst teargas shells to disperse the stone-pelting mobs.
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Five police personnel, including SSP Manmohan Singh and seven protestors, were injured. A group of agitators also tried to ransack a police post at Digiana.
Reports from Kathua district said a mob of over 1,000 people clashed with the police. Three people were injured when police resorted to lathicharge and teargas shelling.
Authorities tried to ensure that there was no blockade on the national highway from Pathankote to Jawahar tunnel where prohibitory orders were imposed.
The streets of Jammu wore a deserted look as the chakka jaam got underway.
Only security vehicles were seen plying on the roads. The SAYSS, demanding transfer of 100 acres of land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, had decided to intensify the ongoing agitation after three rounds of inconclusive talks with the government on August 23.
The Samiti asked people not to use their private vehicles today. However, vehicles of mediapersons and ambulances carrying patients were exempted from the chakka jaam agitation.
"In view of the dilly-dallying tactics of the government on the issue, the Samiti has decided to continue its agitation and so it extended the bandh upto August 31," SAYSS convenor Leela Karan Sharma told reporters in Jammu on Sunday night.
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He maintained that the demands put forth by the Samiti before the government were 'clear and unambiguous' and that the issue should be settled immediately. The SAYSS has decided to hold rallies on August 27 and August 31 to press its demands.
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Meanwhile, authorities kept strict vigil on the national highway, from Lakhanpur to Jawahar tunnel, to ensure that protestors do not disturb movement of vehicles.
In Poonch town, the curfew continued today for the third consecutive day. The town was rocked by communal clashes in which several shops, houses and vehicles were damaged.
In Kishtwar town, which also witnessed communal clashes on August 12, authorities lifted day curfew as the situation improved.
Curfew has also been lifted in Hirangar town of Kathua district and in Samba, Udhampur and Rajouri.
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