KL Report
SRINAGAR
While strongly condemning the government action of banning the lecture which was scheduled to be delivered by a prominent Indian author and academician Mridu Rai, All Parties Hurriyat Conference (G) on Thursday said that Jammu & Kashmir is actually a police state where the government is totally intolerant towards the opposite voices.
According to a Hurriyat (G) statement, Syed Ali Geelani has said that though India is claiming to be the largest democratic country of the world but this claim is “miserably exposing in Kashmir where the freedom of expression has been practically banned and the people are not allowed to peacefully put forth their view point.”
Pertinently, author of Hindu Rulers- Muslim Subjects, Prof Mridu Rai was scheduled to deliver a lecture on Wednesday, July 09 at a local hotel here, on “Languages of violence, Languages of Justice. The State and Insurgent Kashmir”, to commemorate and honour late Rughonath Vaishnavi, a political activist, organized by human rights defender group, J&K Coalition of Civil Societies (JKCCS). The lecture was not allowed by the police forcing the organizers to shift the venue to JKCCS office at The Bund.
The statement further said that internet has revolutionized the communication system of the present era and there are many ways available with the people to reach every corner of the world, “banning of such conferences and events in this era is ridiculous on the part of government and it is absolute ignorance of the banning authority.”
Hurriyat statement termed the ignorance expressed by the district administration about the ban on the lecture as ‘surprising and ridiculous’ and asked the Deputy Commissioner concerned that he should explain that which authority other than he, who can ban such events, and who is authorized to do so?
It said that Jammu & Kashmir is said to be having an elected government but actually “the orders of Indian home ministry are followed here and they want to control everything of this state of their own, even the atmosphere.”
“The democratic and basic rights of the citizens have been snatched from them and no one is in position to freely express his views. India actually wants to hide the serious and severe situation of Jammu & Kashmir from the outer world and for that they can go to any extent. It has now become the routine to ban and restrict the seminars and academic conferences of the fro-freedom people and today by banning the lecture of a prominent Indian author in Srinagar, the government have proven that they don’t want to listen to the reality regarding the Kashmir in any way, even if the speaker is an Indian citizen,” the statement said.
