July 14, 2008	Monday	Rajab 10, 1429

NEW DELHI, July 13: Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Ghulam Nabi Azad has blamed funds from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan for fomenting recent violence in the state over a controversial land grant to Hindu pilgrims, the IANS news agency said on Sunday.

Mr Azad slammed Kashmiri groups that made an ‘’issue’’ of the allotment of the land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board and its subsequent cancellation, but said: “Less than one per cent of the population of the state was involved in these agitations, which were being carried out with money provided by Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.’’

Mr Azad’s Congress party government was forced to resign on July 7, when he quit office and refused to face a trust vote in the state legislative assembly.

The Kashmir Valley was rocked by violent protests when Mr Azad’s government transferred 40 hectares of forest land in south Kashmir to the SASB, the temple trust of the Himalayan Amarnath cave shrine.