Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 7: Over 250 National Conference workers, including senior functionaries were today detained after being cane-charged by police to foil their march towards Civil Secretariat, which re-opened in the winter capital this morning after Durbar Move, to register protest over the alleged failure of PDP-BJP Government in the State.
At least fifty NC activists sustained injuries in the melee and lathi-charge by police. One of them sustained serious head injury and was hospitalized. The police brutality did not even spared the women activists who formed part of the huge rally, comprising hundreds, which took off from Sher-e-Kashmir Bhavan during mid day. As the senior leaders pleaded with the police that they were holding peaceful demonstrations, they were heckled and packed in the waiting buses and shifted to District Police Lines. Even they fell short of vehicles. At least 250 workers were detained in the DPL and later released. The seriously hurt Anoop Sharma, is under observation in the hospital for his head injuries.
Prominent among those detained included Provincial President Devender Singh Rana-MLA, besides senior leaders Surjeet Singh Slathia, Ajay Kumar Sadhotra, Dr Kamal Arora- MLA, Syed Mushtaq Bukhari, Ram Pal, Rattan Lal Gupta, Kashmira Singh, Th Rachhpal Singh, Choudhry Haroon, Dharamveer Singh Jamwal, Vijay Lochan and others.
The rally carried placards, listing the failures of the Government and its intolerance to dissent. The protesters were raising slogans against the PDP-BJP for bringing the State to the crisis.
Additional general secretary National Conference Dr Sheikh Mustaffa Kamal also later joined the rally.
Earlier, addressing large gathering, the senior leaders expressed anguish over continued border hostilities, resulting in deaths of several civilians as also soldiers, dislocation of thousands of border dwellers, lack of safe accommodation to lodge the displaced people, absence of medicare and other essentials. They said that fear psychosis had engulfed the entire belt of Line of Control and international border including Saujian, Balakote, RS Pura, Ramgarh and Hiranagar. The border dwellers are genuinely feeling left in lurch.
“For ending this traumatic phase, there is immense need to de-esclate the situation by meaningful engagement between India and Pakistan”, the speakers emphasized, saying that wars were no solution to political issues.
NC leaders assailed the coalition dispensation for turning Jammu and Kashmir into a police state with responsibility of even running schools in the Valley relegated to the Army. “The Government has lost connect with the people of both the regions of Kashmir and Jammu and the governance is at its lowest ebb”, they said adding that by and large there is no semblance of government.
Referring to harassment meted out to Gujjar and Bakerwal communities by way of evicting them from their hearths, the National Conference leaders cautioned against the attempts of dividing people and polarizing the situation, saying that it is in nobody’s interest.
They also highlighted the plight of daily wagers, saying that callousness of the Government has forced them to take to streets while employees in many other organizations were deprived of timely salaries. The NC forcefully vouched for the welfare of employees and demanded immediate implementation of the 7th Pay Commission Report.
Seeking end to indiscriminate arrests across the Valley, the National Conference leadership observed that the PDP-BJP Government has lost sense of proportion. Later, the detained functionaries of the NC were let-off from District Police Lines.
Meanwhile, the brutal lathi-charge and detention of National Conference workers has evoked widespread condemnation from the cadre across the state. The District and Block Committees have condemned the barbaric acts of the PDP-BJP Govt
National Conference president and former Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah and working president Omar Abdullah (Ex-CM) have condemned the police lathi-charge on the party workers here. In a statement both the leaders have alleged that PDP-BJP Government was trying to muzzle the voice of the people by using brutal force.
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