BJP flays Centre, JK govt for ''preventing yatra participants''

Bhagalpur (Bihar), Jan 24 (PTI) The BJP today saidneither the Centre nor the Jammu and Kashmir government havethe right to prevent its youth workers from unfurling thenational flag in Srinagar on the Republic Day.

"It is a matter of shame for the Congress-led UPAgovernment that it is preventing its citizens from reachingSrinagar. The government has no right to prevent free movementof its citizens anywhere in the country," party nationalspokesman Syed Shahanwaz Hussain told reporters here referringto deployment of central forces in the Valley and borderingareas.

"The Centre and Jammu and Kashmir government areneedlessly taking preventive measures to ensure that BharatiyaYuva Janata Morcha (BYJM) workers cannot unfurl national flagat Lal Chowk in Srinagar," he said.

Meanwhile, state Congress chief Chaudhary Mehboob AliKaiser said while citizens have the right to unfurl tricolouranywhere in the country, the government was well-within itsrights to prevent a function if it disturbed law and ordersituation at a particular place.

He demanded a ban on the rally, saying the proposedprogramme was bound to disturb the ''fragile'' peace in thestrife-torn state.