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Bangalore incident angers Kashmiris

Shujaat Bukhari

Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association seeks apology

SRINAGAR: Kashmiris are enraged at the treatment meted out to two Ranji cricketers who were arrested in Bangalore on Saturday on suspicion of possessing explosives and later released for lack of evidence. The Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) has sought an apology from Karnataka police.

At an emergency meeting of the JKCA here, it was decided to lodge a strong protest with the Karnataka government as well as Karnataka Cricket Association through the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI). “It is a shocking incident. The Karnataka police have behaved in a high irresponsible manner. We have decided to lodge a strong protest through the BCCI and will seek an unconditional apology from them for this unwarranted act” JKCA secretary Salim Khan told The Hindu.

Parvez and Merajuddin were arrested and questioned as traces of RDX were allegedly found in their bags by a detector. One version has it that the players prevented sniffer dogs from coming in contact with their bags as they were carrying copies of the Koran. They were freed after Union Minister for Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah intervened. Dr Abdullah is president of the JKCA.

The incident was received with shock and surprise in Kashmir, coming at a time when the Centre is initiating a dialogue with various shades of political opinion to buy peace in the state. “This is simply humiliating to treat every Kashmir as a terrorist. Who is going to play like this and believe that the rest of India is safe for Kashmiris,” said Maajid Yaqub Dar, himself a Ranji player.

Senior NC leader and Minister for Rural Development A.M. Sagar said: “There are certainly some bad elements in agencies who want to give bad name to Kashmiri youth. This will not help restore confidence in this troubled place,” he told The Hindu. He said the State government would inquire into the incident.

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said: “This is one more example of the siege with which the people of Kashmir have been living for the past 20 years.” It is not a question of just two boys but it “starts right away from the doorstep here.”

She said thousands of people were denied passports in their own land. She alleged that students and Kashmiri travellers were denied accommodation in the rest of country merely on suspicion. “This is the basis of alienation.”

Farooq seeks probe

IANS reports from Jammu:

Dr. Abdullah said here on Sunday that “the entire blame cannot be laid on the Karnataka police, for they were fed with wrong information by some people from here.”

He suspected the hand of those who could not find a place in the team and asked the Director-General of Police to probe the matter.

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