PCC chief Karra, several Congress leaders detained as police stop their statehood march

Several Congress activists led by the PCC chief Tariq Hameed Karra were on Sunday detained by the police, which thwarted their march to the Raj Bhawan here, demanding the restoration of J&K’s statehood.

Besides Karra, Congress general secretary and MLA GA Mir, former ministers Lal Singh, Raman Bhalla, Yogesh Sawhney, and the party’s chief spokesman Ravinder Sharma were among those who were detained and taken to the police lines, from where they were released after some time.

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This was the second day that police did not allow Congress to hold a rally, held under the banner “Hamari Riyasat Hamara Haq”. On Saturday, a Congress rally was stopped by police in Srinagar.

Scores of Congress activists, led by Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Tariq Hameed Karra and party general secretary GA Mir, assembled at the party headquarters at Shaheedi Chowk in the heart of the city.

They were to march to the Raj Bhawan to submit a memorandum to Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, but were stopped by police barricades that were put up on the route.

Karra told mediapersons that the “Hamari Riyasat Hamara Haq” campaign, a vital movement of the Congress party, has successfully reached every corner of J&K, galvanising public support.

In a blatant display of authority, the police under the control of the BJP LG Administration detained and thwarted the march, he said.
“Our peaceful procession, which we have been carrying out for the last 6 months as per our rights, is being stopped ”, he said.
Karra said, “Since the Constitutional changes of 2019, the Congress party has been continuously demanding J&K statehood to be restored. The Prime Minister has repeatedly given assurances for this both inside and outside Parliament. However, when we realised that his assurances were just another slogan, the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir protested for this demand. Today we have a programme to go to LG House. Tomorrow we have a programme to march to Delhi. But you can see in what brutal way our procession is being stopped. We will force the Bharatiya Janata Party to pass a bill to restore the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir in the coming session.”

He thanked Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge for writing a letter to PM Modi for the restoration of J&K’s statehood. The Congress was not alone in raising the demand, but the entire India Bloc was supporting statehood for J&K, he said.