Police foils AIP’s Lal Chowk march, Er Rashid placed under house arrest

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Police on Sunday foiled the Awami Itehad Party’s (AIP) march to Lal Chowk, the nerve centre of the summer capital, to protest against suspension of Kashmiri student in Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) for offering in absentia funeral prayers of scholar-turned-militant Mannan Wani.
AIP chief Er Sheikh Abdul Rashid, MLA, who led the march, was taken into custody and later placed under house arrest.
Er Rashid and his supporters took to streets at Jawahar Nagar, and tried to take a protest march to Lal Chowk in solidarity with Kashmiri students suspended for offering in absentia funeral prayers of Wani, who alongwith another militant were killed in an encounter with security forces on Thursday in Kupwara.
However, security forces deployed in the area swung into action and took Er Rashid and his supports into preventive custody. Er Rashid was later place under house arrest in his residence in Jawahar Nagar.
“Offering funeral prayers of anyone, including Manan Wani, is not a crime but a fundamental religious obligation. AMU Administration has filed charges of sedition against Kashmiri students only under pressure from local BJP leaders just to polarize the issue and gain electoral dividends,” Er Rashid told reporters before being arrested.
He said whatsoever is being attributed to students is absolutely false and baseless.
“AMU is a prestigious institution and the only aim to drag the university into controversies is to interfere in the affairs of the university and abolish its Muslim dominated character. Kashmiri students are being targeted only for the reason that they are Kashmiris and being a Kashmiri has become a crime in India,” he added.
He said Kashmir stands with the students who are being subjected to mental torture and harassment not only in AMU but everywhere in India.