We will submit a memorandum to the central government demanding release of the politicians and civic leaders and initiation of dialogue process, said Dr. SQR Ilyas
India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 14 — A big number of people – far more than the official figure – are feared to have been arrested or detained and kept at unknown locations since August 5 when the Article 370 and 35A were abrogated by the Parliament effectively withdrawing the special status from the state of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcating it into two union territories, said Welfare Party Of India (WPI) President Dr. SQR Ilyas while referring to his talks with people in the Valley during his two-day visit.
Dr. Ilyas, who visited Srinagar and Baramulla on September 12-13 along with two National General Secretaries of his party Ms. Sheema Mohsin and Mr. Subramani Armugam, was addressing a press conference at the Press Club of India here on Saturday.
The people of Jammu and Kashmir felt that “many people from the valley are arrested or detained and the number was approximately 30,000- 40,000 which include political leaders, social activists, academicians, lawyers, leaders of civil society movement etc,” said Dr. Ilyas.
However, the government has officially admitted that around 4,000 people have been taken into detention to maintain public safety and public order.
Dr. Ilyas said people are very angry, more at the way Article 370 was abrogated than the abrogation itself.
“The people across the valley expressed great anger and anguish, as the entire process of abrogating article 370 and 35A took place without involving them and termed it as undemocratic, unconstitutional and illegal,” said Dr. Ilyas.
Narrating what he saw in Srinagar and Baramulla, Dr. Ilyas said: “We had fear that we may not be allowed to enter the city from the Srinagar airport, but this did not happen. There was almost normalcy in the city. Officially there was no curfew, but the locals were maintaining self-imposed curfew as a mark of protest against the government move. Traders open their shops for one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening to help people but for keep their business establishments closed for rest 22 hours.”
“We witnessed silence in the air and helplessness in the faces of the people. Academicians told us that Constituent Assembly was needed to remove Article 370, State Assembly should have been kept intact and if majority of people had approved the government move, there would have been no problem, but right now they feel betrayed,” he said.
Referring to remarks of some BJP leaders regarding women of Jammu and Kashmir, Dr. Ilyas said “people feel very insulted by the talks of marriage of their girls with outsiders and purchase of their land and properties.”
Regarding arrest or detention of mainstream politicians including three former Chief Ministers, Dr. Ilyas said: “With their politicians and leaders arrested or detained the people of the valley are confused and uncertain about their future, they said that they felt betrayed and their democratic rights and right to freedom of expression, information and communication had been grossly violated.”
Dr. Ilyas also said that people are apprehensive of the vacuum created with the arrest of mainstream politicians to be filled by militant leadership. He said no politicians are giving calls for shutdown because they are already in detention, yet people are maintaining self-imposed curfew and keep their shops closed.
The people of the valley felt, Dr. Ilyas said, that the media has been doing “biased or one-sided news about Kashmir, and the sentiments of the people of the valley are not portrayed.”
“The people of the valley also expressed that the situation differed in intensity some little tense and some very tense, in different places within the valley. The picture being portrayed by the govt. that normalcy & restored in the valley is false and misguiding,” said Welfare Party president.
Demands of Welfare Party:
The Welfare Party has demanded the central government to release the arrested politicians and civic leaders and initiate dialogue process. The party has put up eight demands before the government:
1. Sincere dialogue with the people of Kashmir should take place and ensure that the curfew is withdrawn and normalcy restored.
2. All communication lines, internet and mobile should be restored with immediate effect.
3. All the people arrested from the valley should be released immediately.
4. The faith and trust of the indigenous people of Kashmir should be restored with their history, identity, ethnicity and culture preserved and their citizenry upheld.
5. We demand that the human rights violations taking place in the valley should be immediately stopped.
6. We demand that peoples and leaders from rest of india should refrain from giving provocative and irresponsible statement about Kashmir and kashmiries.
7. We demand that people must be assured that their ethnicity culture demography will not be altered. This assurance should be given in legal terms.
8. We demand that the govt should initiate dialogue with all stake holders in Kashmir to win the trust of the people and ensure that the civil curfew will be withdrawn and normalcy be truly be restored.
