Srinagar: As many as 22 people from intelligentsia including former bureaucrats, Judges and top journalists from Jammu and Kashmir under the banner of ‘Group of Concerned Citizens’ have dispatched a memorandum to President of India Pranab Mukerji asking him to curb the armed forces and initiate a direct and open dialogue for lasting solution of Jammu and Kashmir Dispute.
The signatories are Muhammad Shafi Pandit Former Chairman Public Service Commission, Hasnain Masoodi Former Judge J&K High Court, G.R.Sufi Former Chief Information Commissioner, Abdul Wahid Former Vice Chancellor Kashmir University and Founder Vice Chancellor Central University Kashmir, Hashmatullah Khan Former Vice Chancellor SKUAST University, Fayaz Ahmed Kaloo Editor-in-Chief, Greater Kashmir, Masood Hussain Artist, Rafiq Masoodi Former Additional Director General, Doordarshan, Munshi Ghulam Hassan Former Chairman J&K Bank, Reyaz Ahmed Jan Former Advocate General, Muhammad Zaman Azurda Professor, Former Dean & Head, Faculty of Arts, Nusrat Andrabi Professor, Former Principal Government College Nawakadal, Anuradha Bhasin Executive Editor Kashmir Times, Feroz Ahmad Former Commissioner/Secretary to Government, A. R. Khan Former Member State Human Rights Commission, Isfandayar Khan Former District Development Commissioner, Syed Noor-Ul-Hassan Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, G.H.Kangu Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, G.H.Rather Former Development Commissioner Power, Gazala Noor Amin Entrepreneur, Krishan Lal Entrepreneur and G.D. Bakshi Progressive Farmer.
The memorandum a copy of which lies with news agency CNS reads that, Jammu and Kashmir has been on the boil for the last eight weeks. The discontent and discord in the State may not be new. Its history is replete with umpteen incidents of mass uprising after brief intervals of lull, against suppression of political aspirations. The spread and magnitude of public anger, this time however, is without a parallel in its strife-torn history. At no stage, of political struggle spread over seven decades, have been such a large number of people killed, maimed and blinded in various crowd control measures by the security forces and police, within a few weeks. The unrest has spread to Pir Panchal Region, Chenab Valley and Kargil Region. There is no sign of an early respite. The Central Armed Police Forces and Jammu and Kashmir Police have been wantonly firing pellet guns above waist, resulting in eye injuries to most of the victims.
Till date, 75 people have been killed in the firing resorted to by the police and other security forces, more than 700 have been completely or partially blinded, and the number of injured has crossed ten thousand. Property – both public and private, worth millions has been damaged during protests or nocturnal raids-a weapon of reprisal, introduced of late. The loss to business and related activities, has crossed seven thousand crore rupees. The situation is alarming and, if left unaddressed, may have disastrous fallout not only on people of Jammu and Kashmir, but the entire region.”
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