KL Report
SRINAGAR
Moderate Hurriyat Conference has called for a shutdown on Saturday against the proposed extension of lease agreement about Tosa Maidan.
“Tosa Maidan was leased to the army in 1964 for setting up an artillery firing range with the 50-year lease. Its lease to the Indian army ends on April 16, 2014,” Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Chairman of the said Hurriyat faction said in a press conference on Wednesday.
“The call is against the land lease agreement between State government and Indian Army of Tosa Maidan meadows in central Kashmir which has been used by later for artillery exercises,” Mirwaiz said.
“There will be a complete shutdown on Saturday and people will hold peaceful protests against the extension of lease agreement,” he said.
“Since 1964, for six months from May to October every year, the meadow sees scenes of simulated warfare carried out by the army,” Mirwaiz said adding “During this period, the villages reverberate with the barrage of shelling and deafening explosions, forcing the villagers to stay indoors most of the time. The human cost of the military exercises is now causing an outcry not only in the affected villages but across the Kashmir Valley.”
