Zafar Aafaq
SRINAGAR
Police on Friday foiled the hunger strike-cum-sit-in protest of Awami Ittihaad Party (AIP) led by lawmaker Engineer Rasheed.
Rasheed had announced that he will hold the protest demonstration against “the insensitivity of Union government towards Kashmir”.
“Me and my five activists were injured in police action when we were peacefully holding hunger strike,” a spokesperson of AIP said. “We have been lodged at Kothi Bagh Police Station.”
The police had asked the AIP activists to “windup” the sit-in, however, they refused.
The cops then started roughly dragging the activists towards the armed personal carrier parked near the spot of sit-in protest.
The workers attempted to exert restraint, however, they failed to stay unmoved.
Rasheed resorted to verbal firing when he branded the cops as “Hindustani agents.”
He asked the police officer to allow his party to continue sit-in protest as “we don’t have stones in our hands and we are staging peaceful strike.” However, the cops refused the demand and took all the activists including Rasheed towards Police Station Kothibagh.
Earlier, AIP spokesperson, Inam un Nabi told Kashmir Life that Rasheed went in to hiding around 2 AM in the night to evade arrest. “Police raided our Jawahar Nagar residence at 4 AM but we had already left,” he said.
He added that several of AIP activists were detained on way to Srinagar from North and South Kashmir.
