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Protesters block NH, resort to stone-pelting

KT NEWS SERVICE. Dated: 4/18/2018 12:43:06 PM

JAMMU, Apr 17: Angry protesters Tuesday afternoon blocked Jammu-Pathankot National Highway for over two hours in protest against a sacrilegious act in Sarore area of Vijaypur constituency in Samba district.
Few miscreants among the protesters also resorted to stone-pelting while protesting outside the house of MLA Vijaypur and former minister Chander Prakash Ganga, thus resulting into mild cane-charge and tear-gassing by the police to disperse unruly mob and clear traffic on the Highway. However a semblance of order could be restored in the evening. As the tension ran high, the authorities, as a precautionary measure, also suspended internet services in three districts of Jammu, Samba and Kathua.
Earlier tension gripped three districts after few locals noticed the carcasses of two bovine animals lying in fields near Uphar Farm House in Sarore in jurisdiction of Bishnah Police Station. Soon the angry protesters gheraoed the residence of former Minister for Industries and Commerce Chander Prakash Ganga, who is also MLA Vijaypur and lives near-by. Agitated protesters amid sloganeering asked the MLA to join the protest. Later Ganga came out and tried to pacify the enraged protesters by asking them to maintain communal harmony. However, the protesters remained unrelenting and held a protest dharna on Jammu-Pathankot National Highway amid sloganeering and burning of tyres. The highway runs through the Samba, Jammu and Kathua districts.
Sensing the gravity of situation, all the senior officers of civil and police administration including IGP Jammu, Divisional Commissioner and SSP rushed to the spot to defuse the tension. However at this point of time, some miscreants resorted to stone-pelting. Following this, the police resorted to mild lathicharge and tear-gassing to disperse the mob and clear the Highway for traffic. In the meanwhile, the authorities also snapped mobile internet facility in the districts to keep a check on rumours through inflammatory posts and pictures. Additional police and paramilitary forces too were deployed to contain the situation.
Earlier in the morning, another former minister and BJP leader Chowdhary Lal Singh, who along with Ganga had resigned last week for attending a rally in support of accused of Kathua minor rape, murder case in Kathua, had taken out a rally from Satwari to Kathua.