Police foil another protest over new land laws in Srinagar

The police on Monday prevented members of J&K Civil Society Forum from holding a protest at the Press Enclave here. The forum was protesting against the new land

The police on Monday prevented members of J&K Civil Society Forum from holding a protest at the Press Enclave here. The forum was protesting against the new land laws, removal of Article 370 and limiting of employees’ service tenure to 22 years.

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The forum members led by former trade union leaders Abdul Qayoom Wani and Farooq Trali had assembled at the Press Enclave and started sloganeering against the new land laws and removal of J&K’s special status.

Before being detained by the police, Wani, who had contested the last parliamentary elections from Baramulla on the PDP ticket, told the media that they would never accept the new land laws. “These laws are not only against the people of Kashmir but also unfavourable for those living in Jammu and Ladakh,” said Wani, chairman of the forum.

He said that due to the government’s new order that limits the service of government employees to 22 years, the sword of unemployment will be hanging over all of them, which is against the service rules.

A senior police officer said some civil society members were taken into preventive custody.

This is the second protest against the newly introduced land laws that was prevented by the police in the past 10 days. Last week, a dozen PDP leaders were detained for taking out a similar protest in Srinagar. On Saturday, the valley had observed a shutdown against the laws on the call of the Hurriyat Conference.