Jammu 'bandh' call evokes no response, JKNPP activists detained

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The day-long 'Jammu bandh' called by the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party on Saturday to protest internet shutdown failed to evoke any response here as JKNPP chairman Harsh Dev Singh was put under house arrest and several others were detained, officials said. It was business as usual in Jammu and other parts of the region with shopkeepers opening their shops in the morning while public and private transport was also seen playing on all routes normally, they said.

They said police and paramilitary forces have been deployed in strength in sensitive areas of the city and elsewhere as a precautionary measure to tackle any law and order problem.

Dozens of JKNPP activists led by president Balwant Singh Mankotia assembled outside the press club in the morning and tried to take out a march against continued ban on mobile internet, price hike of essential commodities and setting up of toll plaza but were stopped by a posse of policemen and later detained, the officials said.

JKNPP Chairman and former minister Harsh Dev Singh was detained along with several other associates on Friday while he was canvassing support for the bandh. He was later put under house arrest, they said.

Accusing the administration of following "unconstitutional and draconian methods to muzzle the voice of the people of Jammu", a JKNPP spokesman claimed over 400 party leaders and activists were detained on the eve and during the Jammu bandh.

"The JKNPP has and will always raise their voice against any and every anti-people policies of the government of the day and will not be cowed down by such oppressive tactics," he said.

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