Agitators set ablaze police post in Jammu

Jammu, Aug 1 (UNI) Hundreds of agitators today set a police post on fire outside the Raj Bhawan in the heart of the old city, official sources said here.

On receiving information about the arrival of National Conference patron and former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, along with Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti at the Raj Bhawan for an all party meeting with Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra, the protestors gathered outside the conference venue, shouting slogans.

''Shouting anti-PDP and NC slogans, hundreds of agitators gathered outside the Raj Bhawan and entered into a clash with the police and para-military forces,'' sources told UNI.

The police resorted to lathi-charge, fired tear gas shells and rubber bullets to disperse the mob, sources said, adding, ''The furious mob shattered the Panjtirthi police post, just 100 m away from the Raj Bhawan and later set it on fire.'' Complete shutdown was observed in Jammu on the ninth consecutive, as protests triggered off in the entire region after the death of Kuldeep Verma, one of the protestors of the Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti, who sacrificed his life during a chain hunger strike on July 23.

UNI VBH SBC CS1910