Jammu, July 3: The shutdown call by Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangarsh Samiti Saturday evoked little response in Jammu where life remained normal despite arrests and protests at a few places.
Reports from various parts of the city said the situation remained normal throughout the day as all shops and other businesses establishments were open and traffic plied normally.
The Samiti had called the shutdown to protest against, what it termed, harassment to Amarnath pilgrims, attack on security forces and alleged attacks on some religious places in the Kashmir valley.
The strike call, however, evoked some response from parts of old city and commercial vehicles remained off the road on at least two city routes.
Demanding deployment of army in Kashmir to bring back normalcy, the SAYSS bandh call was already rebuffed by various organizations including traders associations, Shiv Sena and Jammu Bar Association and was only supported by Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) and few lesser known political groups.
At least 60 activists of BJP including three Members of Legislature Assembly, convener SAYSS and state head of Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) were arrested when they attempted to take out a protest rally in support of the bandh.
Amid anti-government slogans, eyewitnesses said over two dozen BJP activists led by MLAs Ashok Khajuria, Jugal Kishore and Sukhnandan Choudhary tried to take out a protest rally from the party office at Kachi Chowni. However, the attempt was foiled by the police when it arrested all the protestors.
Earlier, addressing workers, BJP state president Ashok Khajuria alleged that the government was using force to crush the voice of the people who are angry at its ‘failure to defend the security forces against attempts by anti-national elements to malign their image.’
He warned the state government to abandon its policy of appeasement and give free hand to security forces if it is really committed for the protection of lives and property of the people and giving a befitting reply to the anti-national forces.
As soon as the BJP activists came out from the party office, police swung into action and arrested all of them including three MLAs.
Sangarsh Samiti members also tried to take out a protest rally at Geeta Bhawan. However, the attempt was foiled by police.
Convener Sangarsh Samiti Suchat Singh, VHP state head Rama Kant Dubey and 15 activists were arrested and taken to Pacca Danga and City police stations.
Nearly 15 activists of Samiti were arrested by Nawabad police from Venayak Bazar when they were forcing shopkeepers to close their shops to enforce bandh.
BJP MLA Shyam Choudhary was arrested along with a dozen party activists when he tried to lead a protest march in Suchetgarh area of RS Pura.
District administration and police had taken strict security measures to avoid any untoward incidents by deployment of heavy contingent of police and paramilitary personnel across the city.

NAZIA AKHTAR ADDS FROM SRINAGAR:
The traders said there was no reason to go for shutdown when the government was providing all necessary arrangements for the Amarnath Yatris.
“The Jammu bandh call was unwarranted, uncalled for and unreasonable. When there was no matter of concern why should we have observed bandh? If some people are causing disturbances, it is the duty of the administration to catch hold of them and we should not indulge in it. We should rather help the government and the administration to catch hold of such miscreants. These shutdown calls are only derailing our economy and causing a major setback to it,” said Devindar Mahajan, Chairman, Federation of Industries, Jammu.
“We have large number of tourists who don’t find any problem in proceeding to Yatra, so we don’t have any issue to go for a strike. We had requested the Samiti to withdraw the call. We were not convinced about the points that the Samiti had raised for the bandh. We think all those points are already taken care of by the government,” said Y.V. Sharma, President, Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Jammu.
“Samiti wanted to go for the shutdown just for the sake of it. Otherwise entire government machinery is working well to make the Yatra a success,” the traders said.
“I attended the Samiti meeting but could not find any genuine reason to support the strike call,” said Tajwant Singh Rein, President, Association of Industries, Jammu.
“Ours is a manufacturing sector and we cannot go for such unnecessary strikes. There is a direct loss in case industries are closed. We have to pay wages, electricity bills, etc,” he added.

SHAFIQ MIR ADDS FROM RAJOURI:
The strike call also evoked no response from the border district of Rajouri. Defying the call, all shops and other business establishment remained open on Saturday while attendance in government offices and schools was also normal.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 3 Jul 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 3 Jul 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 4 Jul 2010 00:00:00 IST