Srinagar|July, 1 : Jammu and Kashmir Police today foiled a protest march by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Srinagar, detaining several party leaders.
The PDP said the protest that began from party headquarters was aimed at highlighting key civic issues, including rising electricity tariffs, acute shortage of drinking and irrigation water, and the demand for shifting Kashmiri detainees back to local jails. A PDP spokesperson said the party had planned a demonstration but was prevented by police, who detained senior leaders and workers activists. The detained among others included senior leaders Abdul Haq Khan ,Mohammad Khurshid Alam, Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura, Basharat Bukhari, Zahoor Ahmad Mir and several former legislators.
PDP president and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti accused the administration of showing disproportionate urgency in suppressing peaceful protests by her party, while failing to address pressing public issues in Jammu and Kashmir.
“It appears that the administration only flexes its might when it comes to foiling PDP protests & detaining our workers. If only this same power & urgency was applied to address the worsening water crisis, skyrocketing power bills, alarming 17.4 % unemployment rate and unresolved issue of political prisoners,” Mehbooba said in a post on X.
“We’ve witnessed our protests being silenced when we raised our voice against unconditional scrapping of Article 370 and human rights violations but now even raising concerns over governance failures has become a punishable act,” she added.
