SRINAGAR: Slamming the Central Government for denying his entry into Kashmir, Shiromani Akali Dal (A) president, Simranjit Singh Mann said that he is going to fight the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Srinagar Parliamentary constituency in Kashmir valley, reported Daily Excelsior.
The radical Sikh leader had moved a local court in Kathua last month after district authorities did not permit him to visit the Valley citing possible disturbance.
The Member of Parliament from Sangrur in Punjab who had reached Kathua yesterday to appear before the Chief Judicial Magistrate today while talking to reporters before leaving for his home State Punjab, said he is an elected member of Parliament and was planning to visit Kashmir to know the welfare of its people post abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories in August 2019.
But he was not allowed to move out of the hotel. However, his representatives appeared in the court which decided to hear the case on November 29.
“They (BJP leaders) are saying that J-K has become an integral part of India post abrogation of Article 370 but here a Parliament Member is not allowed to visit this part of the country and restrictions are placed on me,” newspaper Daily Excelsior quoted Simranjit Singh Mann as having said.
Mann said he will raise the issue in Parliament during its next session.
The MP said he has every right to visit any part of the country and is going to contest the next Parliament elections from Srinagar in 2024.
“I will not give up my fight. If I am denied justice (by the court of CJM), then I will move the High Court and also the Supreme Court, if needed,” he said.
Earlier in October, Mann spent several nights at Lakhanpur – the gateway to J-K bordering Punjab – in protest against restrictions imposed by authorities on his entry into the Union Territory.
