J&K Unrest: Police prevent Fruit Growers from marching to Muzaffarabad

The Srinagar police prevented a bid by fruit growers of Kashmir to march towards Muzaffarabad (PoK) in protest against the "economic blockade" of the Kashmir Valley by agitators in Jammu. The police fires tear gas shells to disperse the agitating fruit growers and later deflated tyres of 200 trucks carrying fruits in Sopore town.

The fruit growers in the Valley wanted to take an alternate route via Muzaffarabad (PoK) to send their goods to the markets in Delhi and other parts of the country. They are being backed by All Party Hurriyat Conference and Mehbooba Mufti's PDP that had given a call for 'Muzaffarabad chalo'.

Violent protests have been reported from several parts of Jammu and Kashmir and security forces have been put on high alert. The all-party delegation failed to achieve any breakthrough in the talks, as nobody seemed in a mood to listen to Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil.