The Hindu : National : Probe into Banihal firing demanded

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 14, 2004

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National

Probe into Banihal firing demanded

By Shujaat Bukhari

SRINAGAR, SEPT. 13. Political parties have demanded a probe into the police firing in Banihal town on Friday in which one person was killed and over 40 were injured.

The police fired upon the workers of a construction company undertaking the Qazigund-Udhampur railway line work. They had been protesting for a month and a half to press their demands which include the formation of a workers' union.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader, M.Y. Tarigami, visited Banihal on Sunday and condemned what he called the "unprovoked firing" on poor workers whose demands were genuine. "The police are in league with the company's managers who are exploiting these people," he said and demanded a high-level judicial probe into the incident.

The Democratic Freedom Party chief, Shabir Shah, also visited Banihal and expressed sympathies with the families affected in police action. The National Conference president, Omar Abdullah, and the senior vice-president, Abdul Gani Vakil, condemned the police action.

Back to normal

Our Jammu Staff Reporter writes:

Banihal town which was in a siege-like situation is returning to normal as commercial establishments opened today and traffic flowed on the highway. Talking to The Hindu, the DIG (Udhampur-Doda), Satvir Gupta, camping at the site, said some of the agitating leaders had been arrested as a precaution. The charge that they had been tortured was baseless.

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