Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 28: Senior National Conference leaders today described the continued detention of senior political leadership in Jammu and Kashmir as a cause of grave concern, saying curbs on liberty and freedom of expression is against the democratic spirit of the country.
“Now for the past over three weeks the party leadership including President Dr Farooq Abdullah and Vice President Omar Abdullah besides senior functionaries are under detention and nobody knows where they have been lodged and what is the status of their health”, senior leaders said in a statement.
“It is appalling that those who stood for democracy all their life braving challenges are denied their basic right of liberty”, they said, adding that their health and welfare remains a major cause of concern for them.
The signatories to the joint statement included Rattan Lal Gupta, Th Rachpal Singh, Sheikh Abdul Rehman, B. R Kundal, Vijay Bakaya, Sheikh Bashir Ahmed, Dr Kamal Arora, Th. Kashmir Singh, Babu Rampal, Jagjeevan Lal, Qazi Jalal Ud Din, Dr. Chaman Lal, Mohd Aslam Khan, Brij Mohan Sharma, Haji Mohd Hussain, Bushan Lal Bhat, Mrs Bimla Luthra, Master Noor Hussain, S. Tarlochan Singh Wazir, Deepender Kour, Swaran Lata, S. Gurdeep Singh Sasan, Vijay Laxmi Dutta, Vipan Pal Sharma, Bashir Ahmed Wani, Jugal Mahajan, Ch. Haroon, Ch. Liaquat Ali, Anil Dhar, Satwant Kour Dogra, Pradeep Bali, Abdul Gani Teli, Vijay Lochan, Dharamveer Singh Jamwal, Mohinder Gupta and others.