Jammu and Kashmir protests: NC, BJP stage rival protests in Srinagar; police foil both marches

The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Wednesday foiled separate protest marches by the ruling National Conference NC and opposition Bharatiya Janata Party BJP in SrinagarThe BJP had planned to gherao the Civil Secretariat while the NC had announced a march towards the BJP office Both protests were stopped after demonstrators clashed with police and security forces at different locations in the city IANS reportedNC leaders march towards BJP officeSenior NC leaders including Health and Education Minister Sakina Itoo MLAs Tanvir Sadiq Salman Sagar Ahsan Pardesi Shamima Firdous and Hilal Parray among others marched towards the BJP office in Jawahar NagarThe protesters raised slogans demanding the restoration of Article 370 statehood and other constitutional guarantees for Jammu and KashmirPolice and security forces stopped the NC protesters near the Rajbagh police station where barricades had been erected to prevent the march from proceeding furtherThe NC protesters clashed with police following which some of them were taken into preventive custody after they were stopped from moving towards the BJP office in Jawahar NagarNC says statehood reservation issues pendingNasir Aslam Wani advisor to the chief minister told reporters on the sidelines of the NC protest that the government was compelled to stage the demonstration as key issues including restoration of statehood and rationalisation of reservations remained pending despite waiting for two yearsHe said the NC had been patiently waiting for commitments made to the people to be fulfilledldquoUnderstand why we are compelled to stage this protest For two years we have been sitting patiently and waiting with the hope that the promises made to us would be fulfilled People had expected statehood to be restored after the elections but no concrete discussion had taken place on the issuerdquo he statedldquoWe had full hope that statehood would be restored but there has been no discussion on itrdquo he saidOn reservation rationalisation Wani said the Cabinet had approved the matter and forwarded it to the Lieutenant Governor but the issue remained pendingldquoThis is an issue directly linked to the future of our youth but it is also being delayed and no decision has been taken on itrdquo he saidWani said the government had been informed that certain queries had been received from Delhi and that the matter was subsequently returned to the Cabinet for a responseldquoWe were told that there were some queries from Delhi and that the matter had been returned to the Cabinetrdquo he saidHe also questioned the delay in appointing the Advocate General saying several matters were being held upldquoThe situation has reached such an extent that even the Advocate General has not been appointed yet So what are we protesting aboutrdquoldquoThose who are responsible for working should do their workrdquo he saidBJP march towards Civil Secretariat stoppedBJP protesters led by Leader of Opposition LoP in the Legislative Assembly Sunil Sharma and JampK party affairs General Secretary Ashok Koul gathered at Lal Chowk to begin their protest march towards the Civil Secretariat in BatmalooHeavy deployment of police and security forces was made at Lal Chowk and along the road leading to the SecretariatThe BJP protesters were stopped at Jahangir Chowk They attempted to breach the barricades but security forces foiled their attempts and prevented them from proceeding towards the SecretariatSunil Sharma targets Omar Abdullah governmentSpeaking to reporters LoP Sunil Sharma said the large number of people participating in the BJP protest was proof of the alleged failure of the Omar Abdullahled NC governmentHe alleged that the NC government had not fulfilled even one of the promises made to the people in its election manifestoWith IANS inputs