SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Friday staged a protest demonstration against the central governments proposal to grant citizenship rights to the refugees from Pakistan settled in Jammu province.
Reports said that JKLF activists assembled near Maqbool Manzil Maisuma and took out a protest march soon after Friday prayers. The protestors, carrying banners and placards denouncing the proposed move, raised anti-India slogans and proceeded towards city centre Lal Chowk. In a bid to foil the attempt of JKLF activists, large contingent of police and para-military personnel sealed the entry points to Lal Chowk and detained scores of JKLF workers, including Malik.
Police sources said that they detained all but 10 to 12 activists whom they identified as Advocate Bashir Ahmed Bhat, Noor Muhammad Kalwal, Bashir Kashmiri, Sheikh Rashid and others.
Reports said that soon after the arrest of Malik, the agitated protestors hurled stones on police and para-military men resulting in the ding dong battles. Police burst tear smoke shells to disperse the protestors. Eyewitnesses said that few protesters, as well as some police personnel received injuries during the clashes. The vehicular movement came to halt due to protest march and subsequent clashes between the protestors and the police.
Meanwhile, scores of JKLF activists took a protest march in North Kashmirs Handwara town. The protest march that was led by District President Muhammad Rafiq War. The march started from Jamia Qadeem and it culminated at Main Chowk Handwara.
Eyewitnesses said that as the march reached Main Chowk, large contingent of police stopped the participants and detained Rafiq War and other activists.
WILL FIGHT TOOTH AND NAIL
Moments before his detention, JKLF chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik told reporters that Kashmiri people would fight tooth and nail the move to grant citizenship rights to refuges from erstwhile West Pakistan. These refugees are not the permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir and we will launch an agitation in case government of India grants citizenship rights and other concessions to these refugees, Malik said and alleged that the BJP was hell-bent to change the demographic character of Jammu and Kashmir.
He said that Jammu Kashmir is a land full of forests and water bodies and such lands are protected throughout the world. He said that State Subject Law is not associated to J&K only but many Indian hilly states including Himachal Pradesh and Mizoram also having similar kind of laws to safeguard their ecology and environment.
In Jammu, some forces want to put State on fire in the name of the religion. They are pressurizing government to grant citizenship to these refugees. If Indian state, its parliament and political parties are concerned about these West Pakistan refugees, why dont they settle them permanently in Punjab, Haryana or Delhi, he asked.
Malik said the Hindu Maharaja acknowledged the significance of fragility of Kashmir and that is why he implemented State Subject Law inspite of the fact that the people of Kashmir were fighting against his rule.
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