Jammu: Ground Zero, Danger Ahead

10

After we were chased back by the crowds at Kathua, we speed back to Madhopur, a dusty, dirty, muddy water pool area which is the last Punjab outpost. We park along with the lines of trucks on the roadside. After transmitting video footage of the Kathua tension to Noida we go to the Coral River Resort to have a bite and decide what to do next. The resort is a welcome contrast to Madhopur's dullness with open dining next to a winding green canal. We decide we will try and enter Jammu when night falls and people are off the streets. We have heard that the Army has been deployed on the Kathua-Jammu highway and it will be safe to travel. Dusk comes and night falls. We gear up once again. I pick up a walkie talkie from our OB van so we can at least communicate if there....

Jammu: Ground Zero, Day One

6

Ahead of us is our white coloured outdoor broadcast van with its big satellite dish pointing straight ahead, advertising its presence magnificently. On regular broadcast coverage trips I feel comfortable with our OB van in tow because it makes it that much easier to transfer video from the spot location to our studios in Noida, but today I am feeling jittery. The highway from Pathankot in Punjab to Jammu has mobs of Hindu protesters, gathered in groups at random places along the road, but mainly concentrated where there are towns, villages or hamlets. The youth in the mob are clad like youth anywhere in India, but the handkerchiefs covering the faces of many seem a bit eerie. Our cameraman and me are trailing the OB in our Innova, when suddenly up ahead in Kathua, just a few kilometers into J&K territory we spot a huge mob that has....