Hurriyat stages anti-Shiv Sena protests in Kashmir

Srinagar, June 26: Hundreds of activists of the moderate Hurriyat Conference, led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, today staged a peaceful march here in protest against the assault on its senior leader Zafar Akbar Bhat by Shiv Sena members in Jammu on Sunday.

The activists gathered at the Press Enclave here this afternoon and later look out a peaceful protest march toward Regal Chowk.

Chanting anti-Shiv Sena and anti-Bal Thackeray slogans, the angry protestors condemned the attack on Mr Bhat, the Jammu and Kashmir Salvation Movement (JKSM) chairman, by Shiv Sena activists at Jammu Press Club on Sunday, minutes before the former militant was to address a news conference there.

Slogans like ''Down With Shiv Sena...Down With Bal Thackeray...We Are Not Wearing Bangles...Enough Is Enough...'' rented the air.

The protestors later burned Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray in effigy before dispersing.

The Jammu unit of the Hurriyat Conference has threatened to retaliate if Shiv Sena activists attacked any of its leaders in the winter capital in future.

''This is the worst kind of terrorism being perpetuated by Shiv Sena activists in Jammu,'' Advocate Shahid-ul-Islam, the secretary to Mirwaiz Farooq, said.

He claimed that the state government has repeatedly failed to provide security to separatist leaders in Jammu where they have been attacked by Shiva Sena activists on several occasions in the past.

''The state government shields and protects Shiv Sena activists.

It also gives a free hand to them to carry out attacks on Hurriyat and other separatist leaders,'' Advocate Shahid-ul-Islam added.

He said the Jammu and Kashmir government claims at every forum, including in the state Legislature, that adequate security has been provided to separatist leaders.

''Is this the adequate security? Every time a separatist leader visits Jammu, he is attacked by Shiv Sena activists and no action has ever been taken against them,'' the Hurriyat leader said.

In contrast, Advocate Shahid-ul-Islam said a leader from Jammu carried out his or her activity, including addressing a news conference, without any fear in the Kashmir valley.

''In Kashmir, the state government does not even permit peaceful protests but in Jammu, activists of the Shiv Sena and other hard-line organisations are given a free hand to attack any leader.

They have carried out attacks on separatist leaders on several occasions, but nobody had ever been arrested,'' he added.

The Hurriyat leader termed ''very unfortunate'' the state government's silence over these incidents.

UNI