National   

Protests turn violent in Srinagar

By Shujaat Bukhari

SRINAGAR, MARCH 20. Violent protest demonstrations followed alleged police high-handedness here today and over a dozen people, mostly women, were injured.

Witnesses said police targeted women in a procession by the Association of Disappeared Persons (APDP) heading towards the office of the United Nations here demanding to know the fate of their relatives who had gone missing in police custody during the last 13 years. Soon after the procession started from the APDP office, police used force to disperse it. Over a dozen women and the APDP patron, Parvez Imroz, were injured. Later police arrested 10 women and Mr. Imroz.

This evoked protest from the people in the area who shouted slogans against the Mufti Government and demanded action against the police. Normal life in the city was disrupted. Protesters pelted stones at the police and pitched battles continued.Two photographers and a police sub-inspector were injured.Condemning the police action, Mr. Imroz told The Hindu that the APDP was organising a peaceful procession towards the U.N. office but police used force to disperse the unarmed and innocent women already in trauma after the disappearance of their sons.Over 8,000 people, he alleged, had disappeared from the custody of the police and security forces. "We are demanding a high-level commission into the disappearances."

Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretary and MLA, Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami, was arrested while taking out a procession against the `occupation' of Iraq by American forces.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National

News: Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Updates: Breaking News |

Stories in this Section

• Congressmen should ponder over `leadership issue': Advani
• Poll panel stops a near-complete Modi `yatra'
• Congress, NCP formalise agreement
• Lok Satta puts 51 on A.P. watch list
• CPI(M) criticises Government's education policy
• Varun denies anti-Sonia remark
• Pakistan greets Indian `invaders' with warmth
• Congress responsible for stalling Women Reservation Bill: Vajpayee
• Vajpayee promises second green revolution
• Training camps for Rajasthan priests
• A retrograde legislation, says BJP
• `Courts cannot interfere in arbitration proceedings'
• Flower named after Amitabh Bachchan
• Export of Kashmiri trout planned
• Nafisa Ali, Sachin Pilot in Congress second list
• `GM technology has to be regulated'
• A life-line for the aged
• Hurriyat accepts invitation for talks
• Mayawati leaves opponents foxed
• Samajwadi Party rules out tie-up with Congress
• India may join project on nuclear fusion
• Khurana for developing spiritual tourism
• Observers asked to keep vigil on poll expenses
• India to restore 12th century temple in Cambodia
• Congress challenges BJP for a debate
• Mulayam cautions Sonia
• Protests turn violent in Srinagar
• BJP to finalise full list on March 23
• CPI(M) objects to AJT deal
• Why he changed his mind
• `Will back action against foreign author'
• Let them first learn Hindi: Katiyar
• `Experienced students' help IIM-B better placement record
• EC recognises old Samata Party
• BJP to finalise full list on March 23
• Sonia's poll managers get media act together
• Forces brace for elections, at gunpoint
• Tribal party woos Gond vote in M.P.
• POLL-POURRI
• Q & A: Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
• Campaigning without leaders
• A test for Narendra Modi
• Q & A: Sharad Pawar
• AGP complains of phone tapping
• For Delhi's jobless, it certainly isn't shining
• Chaos governs issue of photo ID cards

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu