Srinagar: Dal dwellers and shikarawallas took out a shikara rally Friday evening litting up the lake with flames of torches they were holding amid chants of Azadi.
Eyewitness said the unique protest procession started from the shikara ghat number 1 at Dalgate and the shikarawalas, chanting pro-freedom slogans rowed their shikaras upto Nehru Park Island.
Although a large pose of police personnel was present along the famous Dal Boulevard, they could do little to stop the Shikara procession.
“We can’t fire teargas shells on them, neither can we lathi charge them as they are in shikaras” said a police officer silently watching the protests from the banks of the famous lake.
“We are here to tell the people of Kashmir that we are with them. We are Kashmiris too and like our brethren we too are the victims of conflict” said a young shikarawala.
It is pertinent to mention here the shikarawalas have been facing public heat after the national media's 'distorted' coverage of Kashmir unrest in which the Shikarawalas were portrayed as anti-Azadi.
"The media reportage has created a wrong impression and people have been calling us insensitive and selfish for thinking only about the loss of business at a time when forces are slaughtering our countrymen," said Muhammad Yaqub Dunu, a prominent house boat owner, adding today’s protest has debunked the so called national media's biased coverage.
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