Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Jan 31: Several Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) leaders and workers were detained by the police today for attempting to hold a hunger strike demanding bail for the party’s founder and Baramulla Lok Sabha member, Engineer Rashid.
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After announcing the protest, the AIP sought permission to hold the sit-in at Press Enclave, but their request was denied.
Subsequently, party leaders and workers gathered at the Sangarmal Shopping Complex, where the party’s office is located, to carry out the hunger strike.
As the AIP leaders arrived at the spot, they were met by police officers already stationed there and were detained, preventing them from holding the sit-in.
Engineer Rashid’s son, Abrar, speaking to the media as he was being placed in a police vehicle, condemned the Government’s actions, stating that preventing his father from attending Parliament was an example of its high-handedness.
“It is akin to the murder of democracy. We will continue to raise our voice against this and demand that he (Engineer Rashid) be allowed to attend Parliament,” he said.
Engineer Rashid’s brother, Sheikh Khursheed, an MLA, called the denial of permission for the peaceful sit-in “unfortunate.”
“They are suppressing peaceful dissent. I ask the Government, which was elected by the people: Is this democracy?” he questioned, adding that the party would seek an alternative location for the sit-in.
He said that AIP will decide on its plan only after the detained workers and leaders are released.
Party general secretary G.N. Shaheen later told the media that the program had been called off and future course of action would be announced after further deliberations.
“The permission was denied late last night, and there was some miscommunication between the party leaders and workers. The denial of permission occurred not only in Srinagar but also in Jammu and Delhi,” he said.
He added: “Today’s program has been postponed and will be announced again. It will be a peaceful protest within constitutional limits, as we are law-abiding citizens.”
It is to be noted here that the AIP had planned the hunger strike to show solidarity with party chief Er Rashid, who has already started an indefinite hunger strike in Tihar Jail.
Meanwhile, MLA Handwara and People’s Conference president Sajad Gani Lone today criticized the administration’s decision to deny permission to the AIP for holding a peaceful protest, stating: “Peaceful dissent is a right, not charity.”
In a post on ‘X’, Sajad wrote: “Irrespective of our political differences with AIP, we defend their right to protest. They have not been allowed to hold a peaceful protest.”
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