JK: Several PDP leaders detained as police foil anti-govt march

Srinagar, Jul 1 (PTI) Police on Tuesday detained several leaders of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party as they tried to take out a protest march against the National Conference-led government over its alleged "failure" to fulfil its poll promises.

PDP leaders and activists assembled at the party headquarters near the Sher-e-Kashmir Park here and attempted to march towards the Lal Chowk city centre.

The police asked the protesters to disperse, but they continued their march. Later, police stopped the protesters and took several of them into custody, officials said.

PDP general secretaries Abdul Haq Khan and Mohammad Khurshid Alam, and senior leaders Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura and Syed Basharat Bukhari were among those detained, besides some members of the party's women's wing.

Before being taken away by police, Hanjura slammed the police action as "dictatorship by the government".

"We tried to take out a protest march against the non-availability of drinking water and the increase in electricity tariff and to demand the return of our youth languishing in jails outside J-K. But look at this dictatorship of the LG administration and the Omar Abdullah government that we are not even allowed to protest peacefully," he said.

Meanwhile, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said it appears that the administration "only flexes its might when it comes to foiling PDP's protests and detaining our workers".

" If only this same power and urgency were applied to address the worsening water crisis, skyrocketing power bills, alarming 17.4 per cent unemployment rate and unresolved issue of political prisoners.

"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 said on X. PTI SSB RT RT