BJP’s Tiranga Yatra not to be allowed to enter Kashmir

SRINAGAR - The Jammu and Kashmir government Tuesday decided not to allow the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Tiranga Yatra to enter the state and also disallow any separatist march in city centre, Lal Chowk on Republic Day (Jan 26), highly-placed official sources said.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has all along been maintaining that the BJP’s decision to hoist the flag in Lal Chowk on Republic Day is not well intentioned and it could lead to law and order problems in the Kashmir Valley which is still recovering from the violence that occurred here during the summer last year in which over 110 people lost their lives in clashes between the security forces and protesters.

“The BJP functionaries are welcome to join the official flag hoisting function in the Bakshi Stadium on Jan 26, but nobody will be allowed to undermine the official function and create any law and order situation here,” the source said.

The sources also indicated the government has in fact decided not to allow the Tiranga Yatra to enter the state and plans had been drawn up to stop the yatra at Lakhinpur in Kathua district of the Jammu region.

No senior BJP leader has ever attended any official flag-hoisting function in the Valley during the last over 20 years since the outbreak of the armed violence here.

The pro-freedom Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman, Muhammad Yasin Malik has announced a counter march to Lal Chowk Jan 26 to oppose the BJP’s decision to hoist the national flag there.

The sources said the government had also decided not to allow any separatist march Jan 26 to maintain peace and tranquility here.