Right to Propagation of Views

The People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) expresses its alarm at the crackdown taking place in Jammu and Kashmir on the Tehreek i Hurriyet, a prominent nationalist group, at a time when a “peace process” is supposed to be on. The government has placed under house arrest Syed Ali Shah Geelani and detained without trial four of his senior colleagues under the J and K Public Safety Act (PSA) for two years, after charging them under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

The official line is that S A S Geelani’s public meeting on April 22 next to Martyrs Graveyard in Idgah, Srinagar, had witnessed the participation of members belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, which have been banned under UAPA. It is claimed that slogans raised and flags waved at the meeting gave substance to the charge that the meeting had representatives of both these organisations attending. Furthermore, it is said that the call given by Geelani asking the people to stick to their fundamental demand of exercising their inalienable right of self-determination along with slogans raised against “Indian occupation” and in favour of “Azaadi” amounted to being anti-national in character.