Congress leaders arrested during ‘Our State, Our Right’ march in Jammu
Jammu: Indian police detained several senior Congress leaders, including Congress IIOJK president Tariq Hameed Karra and secretary Ghulam Ahmad Mir, during a peaceful march in Jammu demanding the restoration of statehood to Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the march, held under the banner “Hamari Riyasat Hamara Haq” (Our State, Our Right), was part of the Congress’s mobilisation ahead of the Monsoon Session of Indian Parliament. As the procession began near the party’s Shaheedi Chowk headquarters, a heavy deployment of police blocked the leaders, briefly scuffled with them, and forcibly detained them as they attempted to march towards the Raj Bhavan.
The detained leaders were taken to the district police lines and later released. This marks the second such crackdown in two days, following a similar protest blocked in Srinagar on Saturday, where Congress leaders claimed their office was sealed to prevent mobilisation.
Calling the clampdown an “undeclared emergency,” Karra condemned the administration’s actions, stating, “We came with a memorandum, not with unrest. But the protest site was turned into a fortress. Is this the new normal?”
Congress MLA Iftkhar Ahmed from Rajouri was allegedly manhandled by police, prompting the party to demand an investigation. Congress MP K.C. Venugopal publicly questioned the Modi government’s sincerity over its statehood promise.
