Police use baton to disperse anti-govt rally in Jammu

Similar protests by opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP) supporters were witnessed in Doda, Kishtwar, Udhampur and Kathua districts of Jammu and Kashmir.

They were protesting against "mis-governance and rampant corruption" in the state government recruitment and the "general inability" of those in power to address the day-to-day problems of the common man in the state.

Led by the senior leaders of the party, including its vice-president Dilawar Mir and general secretary Balbir Singh, over 400 PDP activists were marching towards the state secretariat and Raj Bhavan when they were stopped by a police contingent at Jewel Chowk.

The protesting PDP workers clashed with the police, who in turn resorted to a baton-charge to disperse the crowd with some protesters complaining of injuries sustained in the police action.

The decision to hold demonstrations against the state government was taken at a January 8 meeting of the party under the chairmanship of its patron, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

"We were holding a peaceful protest march in Jammu and wanted to present a memorandum to the J-K Governor over the total failure of the Omar Abdullah government," Mir told reporters and lashed out at the police and the state government for the unprovoked attack on peaceful protesters, an act he described as "highly condemnable".

Mir said that the Omar government had, in the last four years, done nothing to alleviate the miseries of the people of the state.