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Mirwaiz calls for valley-wide strike on Saturday
Published on
Wednesday, 9 April 2014
8:38 pm
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Srinagar: The chairman of
his faction of All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) Mirwaiz Umar FarooqWednesday called for valley-wide strike on
Saturday against the proposed
extension of Tosa Maidan lease.
Addressing a
press conference at APHC Headquarters in Rajbagh, the Kashmir’s chief priest
said there will be complete shutdown and peaceful protests on
Saturday.
He threatened
protests if lease is extended. “If this lease is extended, there will be
protests.”
The APHC Human
Rights Division has compiled a report on Tosa Maidan which reads: “Tosa Maidan
was leased to the army in 1964 for setting up an artillery firing range with
the 50-year lease. Tosa Maidan’s lease to the Indian army ends on the 18th
of April 2014this year. Since 1964, for
six months from May to October every year, the meadow sees scenes of simulated
warfare carried out by the army. During this period, the villages reverberate
with the barrage of shelling and deafening explosions, forcing the villagers to
stay indoors most of the time. The human cost of the military exercises is now
causing an outcry not only in the affected villages but across the Kashmir
Valley.”
The report
further reads: “On 8
September 1992, three children aged 8, 9 and 12 went to the fringes of Tosa
Maidan to graze their cattle when they were drawn to an abandoned object. But
when they started playing with it, the object exploded, blowing their bodies
into smithereens. The army paid no compensation to the family who have been
disabled or killed.”
The people of
adjoining villages of Tosa Maidan in Central Kashmir have started a massive
agitation against the proposed extension of lease. (GNS)
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