Click to play videoSrinagar: It started as a dispute over whether land should be allotted to the Amarnath Shrine Board and has become a full fledged crisis about the future of Kashmir in India.
On Tuesday too, the war of wills continued in the state.
But on the two sides of the Amarnath divide, the situation on Tuesday was radically different.
While in Kashmir, people were allowed a brief date with normalcy, Jammu was simmering.
The Amarnath Sangrash Samiti's Jail bharo campaign entering in to its second day
The blaze of protests engulfed the districts of Samba, Kathua, Udhampur and Poonch where thousands stormed police stations, schools and college buildings.
Women were the face of this agitation and over 100,000 of them courted arrest across the Jammu region.
Shivani, one of the agitators, said, “This is the first time women are coming out and protesting
But despite all the agitation and slogan-shouting, the strong undercurrent of discontent among the peace-lovers remains. “We are peace-loving people. The politicians are to be blamed for this situation. They are the ones who have created this division between Jammu and Kashmir,” says a resident Chand Arya
Violence also broke out at the Abhinav theatre in Jammu, where weeklong Independence Day celebrations were disrupted.
But in Kashmir, peace prevailed. Markets were crowded with shoppers, there was heavy traffic on the roads and people queued at ATMs.
The Hurriyat Conference has called off agitations for three days, before they take out a march to Idgah on Friday
“I opened my shop after 15 days but we support the current movement in Kashmir wholeheartedly because we are for resolution of the Kashmir issue. We are not only approving of hartal (strike) but will lay down our lives for the cause,” said shopkeeper Bashir Ahmad Wani.
The Amarnath row may have also brought together the disparate factions of the Hurriyat. Syed Shah Gillani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq will be meeting on Wednesday to chalk out future strategies.
Never before have the separatist leaders faced such tremendous expectations from the people in Kashmir. Will the Hurriyat be able to present a united face and deliver?
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