Police foil PDP's protest march against govt, detain leaders
A number of PDP leaders and workers were detained as they attempted to march from party headquarters towards city centre Lal Chowk in Srinagar.
The protesters were raising slogans against the National Conference led government of Omar Abdullah. 'In Omar's rule, there is only darkness. Your every promise has been a lie,' they shouted.
The police action prompted PDP president Mehbooba Mufti to take to X and lash out at the J&K administration.
'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,' Mufti said on X.
'We've witnessed our protests 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 charged.
Those who were detained included leaders like Mohd Khursheed Alam, Abdul Haq Khan, Zahoor Mir , Arif Laigroo, Iqbal Tramboo, Yaseen Bhat and Noor Mohammad.
The protesters charged the NC government of failing to resolve even the day-to-day issues of the common man even though the party had made many promises in their election manifesto. 'They had talked about Article 370, free electricity, providing gas cylinders, regularisation of daily wagers, all of that has been a hoax. We don't have water for drinking or even for agriculture purposes. They have no stand on even reservations and release of political prisoners,' shouted a protester before being bundled into a police vehicle.
PDP leader Yasir Reshi said that they had not made any big demands from the government. 'We had asked for availability of daily necessities of life like water. It is the month of Muharram and we have asked for water availability as people are facing difficulties in getting portable water or for irrigation purposes,' Reshi said.
He said that Omar Abdullah's government has been a failure on every front. 'He has been a failure politically as well as on the developmental front. Those who can't provide even portable water have no right to be in government,' he said.
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