Community leaders have warned that they would intensify their agitation if the government failed to take action against the elements responsible for hurting their religious sentiments.
The BJP and the members of the Sikh community today held separate demonstrations across the Jammu region to protest an incident of alleged ill-treatment of a Sikh youth in the Kashmir valley.
Demanding an arrest of the culprits involved in the incident in Pulawama district on Wednesday and deployment of security around the Sikh dominated places in Kashmir, over 1,000 members of the community took out a protest rally in the city and later held demonstrations in front of the press club.
Demonstrations were also held by various Sikh groups in Nanak Nagar, Chatta, Simbal camp and Gole Gujral areas in Jammu district where the agitators burnt tyres, blocked various roads and wore black turbans as mark a of protest, the police said.
Community leaders have warned that they would intensify their agitation if the government failed to take action against the elements responsible for hurting their religious sentiments.
BJP activists held a separate demonstration in the city to protest the incident.
Led by the party's Jammu district president Rajesh Gupta, about 150 members assembled at Kachi Chawni Chowk here around 11.30am and staged a demonstration for about 45 minutes.
Raising slogans against anti-national elements, the agitators burnt the effigy of the state government.
Terming the incident as a "Talibani approach", Gupta said thatb the anti-national elements are now trying to harass other minorities in Kashmir after they forced out Kashmiri pandits in 1989-90 from the valley.
The BJP leader demanded that those involved in this act should be dealt with a firm hand before the situation worsened further in the state.
Meanwhile, condemning the incident, Sangarsh Samiti - a conglomerate of various organisations which had spearheaded the Amarnath land row agitation in Jammu - asked the ruling NC-Congress coalition to ensure the safety of the Hindu and Sikh communities in the state.
"We condemn the incident in south Kashmir's Pulwama district," Sangarsh Samiti convenor brigadier Suchet Singh told reporters in Jammu.
Accusing the state government of failing to protect the minorities in the Kashmir valley, he demanded an immediate arrest of the culprits involved in the incident.
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