Several PDP leaders and supporters were detained on Thursday after they tried to take out a protest march here against the detention of Kashmiris, including politicians, officials said.
The PDP leaders and supporters assembled at the party office near the Sher-e-Kashmir Park here and tried to take out the march, the officials said.
They added that the protesters raised slogans demanding the release of Kashmiris jailed in and outside the Union Territory and political prisoners, including PDP chief and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.
The protesters tried to march towards the city centre, however, police stopped them, the officials said.
Some of the protesters were taken into custody, they added.
The party said the police stopped a peaceful protest against the detention of political prisoners, the “harassment” of youngsters, the “gag” on media and “gross human rights violations“.
“Police stops peaceful protest of @jkpdp leaders against the detention of political prisoners, the harassment of youth, the gag on media & rights violations. Police has now detained PDP leaders Rouf Bhat, Hamid Qousheen, Shanti Singh, Arif Laigroo & Mohd Amin,” the party said on its official Twitter handle.
Meanwhile, Ms. Mufti’s daughter Iltija took to Twitter over the police action and said “enforced normalcy through institutionalised repression” stood exposed.
“PDP’s Hamid Kohsheen, Rauf Bhat, Arif, @HarbakshDr, Mushtaq & Omar protesting against illegal detention of Kashmiris in & outside J&K have been arrested in Srinagar. Enforced normalcy through institutionalised repression stands exposed. Peaceful protest is also sedition,” she wrote on her mother’s Twitter handle, which she has been using since last year, after Mufti was taken into custody.
