Srinagar: A protest march organised by PDP against the new J&K land laws on Thursday was prevented by police in Srinagar by detaining several leaders and workers.
In the morning, the PDP leaders and workers assembled outside the party headquarters at Poloview to take out a march against the land laws which allows outsiders to buy land in Jammu and Kashmir. The law has drawn strong resentment and outrage in both Jammu and Kashmir regions, respectively.
A day ago, political parties were allowed to take out protest marches in Jammu. However, as soon as the PDP tried to take out one in Srinagar today, they were bundled into vehicles by police. The leaders who were detained Khurshid Alam, Waheed-ur-Rehman, Suhail Bukhari, Rouf Bhat, Mohit Bhan, Touseef Shah, Umer Dar, Ghulam Rasool Dar, and Mohammad Altaf Bhat.
PDP youth leader Waheed Ur Rehman Para told reporters that they were not allowed to go inside the office as police was deployed outside.
Reacting to the police action, PDP president and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti tweeted, “PDP’s @parawahid, Khurshid Alam, Rouf Bhat, @MohsinQayoom_& @buttkout were arrested by J&K police for protesting against the settler colonial land laws thrusted upon people of J&K. We will continue to raise our voice collectively & won’t tolerate attempts to change demographics”.
In the evening, the detained leaders were released after signing surety bonds. “Surety persons have appeared before this court and gave written surety bonds to the tune of Rs 10,000 As such you are hereby directed to release the accused persons who are under judicial custody,” reported a news agency KDC.

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ARIF RASHID