25 saffron party activists held for disrupting conference in J&K

Police on Sunday foiled joint bids by BJP, Shiv Sena and Bajrang Dal activists to disrupt a day-long conference on Kashmir issue by separatist leader Shabir Shah in Kathua district and arrested 25 activists.

Shah, who is chairman of J&K Democratic Freedom Party (JKDFP), had organised the conference of party activists and senior citizens in hotel Grand Plaza in Kathua district, 70 kms from Jammu, official sources said.

As Shah arrived in the hotel for addressing the convention, activists of BJP, Sena and Dal gathered in front of the hotel and shouted anti-Pakistan, anti-separatist and anti-government slogans and tried to enter into the hotel to disrupt the function, they said.

However, a strong police force deployed in and around the hotel as a precautionary measure foiled their bid and arrested 25 activists after mild cane charge.

BJP leaders said the government was responsible for triggering protests as it allowed separatists to use the soil of Kathua for anti-India and pro-freedom propaganda. "We will not allow them to speak on our soil", BJP leader Lal Chand said.

Earlier Shah said the Centre and state government should create a conducive atmosphere in which talks could be held with separatists leaders and other sections.

Terming Jammu and Kashmir as a tri-lateral issue, he said in the talks between India and Pakistan people of Kashmir have not been involved at all.