J-K anti-encroachment drive: Police stop Mehbooba’s protest march to Parliament

New Delhi, February 8

Police prevented PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti from taking out a march to Parliament here on Wednesday to protest against an ongoing anti-encroachment drive in Jammu and Kashmir.

Accompanied by scores of party workers, Mehbooba planned to march from Railway Bhawan to Parliament, where she wanted to inform opposition parties about the Jammu and Kashmir administration's "bulldozer policy".

However, police detained the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, and took her and her party workers to Jantar Mantar. The protesters dispersed from Jantar Mantar.

"We had come to inform the public, opposition parties and members of the ruling BJP about the misery faced by the public at large in Jammu and Kashmir.

"If we can't go to Parliament, I wonder where we should go then. Does the government want us to get our grievances redressed at the United Nations," Mehbooba asked.

There is no rule of law that can be seen in Jammu and Kashmir and "we came all the way to Delhi to speak our hearts out. But it seems that here also the voice of the general public is muzzled," she said.

The PDP and other political parties of Jammu and Kashmir have denounced the anti-encroachment drive and asked the administration to stop it. They have said that it is affecting the poor.