{"id":1376,"date":"2014-04-16T15:20:25","date_gmt":"2014-04-16T15:20:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kashmir-today.net\/?p=1376"},"modified":"2014-04-16T15:20:25","modified_gmt":"2014-04-16T15:20:25","slug":"civil-society-groups-hold-protest-tosamaidan-lease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/?p=1376","title":{"rendered":"Civil society groups hold protest against Tosamaidan lease"},"content":{"rendered":"

Srinagar:<\/strong> Scores of people under the banner of Toasmaidan Bachao front (TBF),\u00a0 Jammu and Kashmir Right to Information (RTI) movement Rural Voice and Kashmir\u00a0 Centre for Social and Development Studies (KCSDS) held a strong protest in Srinagar\u2019s Press Enclave against further extension of Tosa Maidan firing range to army in central Kashmir\u2019s Budgam district.<\/p>\n

Earlier the groups \u2013 who are leading the agitation against lease \u2013 had proposed to held protest in Muncipal Park but authorities denied permission to them. The infuriated groups then had decided to protest in Press Enclave in Lal Chowk.<\/p>\n

As planned, the groups along with scores of people from Tosamaidan appeared in Press Enclave and held strong protests. Many persons \u2013 who have been victims of artillery firing \u2013 were also part of the protest. The protesters chanted slogans in favour of vacating the Tosamaidan by army.<\/p>\n

Several KCSDS leaders including Hameeda Nayeem, Dr Mubeen Shah, Anwar Ashai, Yasin Khan and Shakeel Qalander addressed the protesters and demanded vacation of Tosamaidan meadow by army.<\/p>\n

The KCSDS member Prof Hameeda Nayeem told GNS that if government extends lease we will intensify protests across valley in cooperation with TBF. \u201cWe will launch valley-wide agitation against the extension of lease. We will oppose the extension of lease tooth and nail. The people there are in crisis. When we went to Tosamaidan, we found as if people there are living in Middle Ages,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She said people of Tosamaidan need security and dignity. \u201cThey lack dignity. There are humanitarian crisis in Tosamaidan. It is a shame for government,\u201d she alleged.<\/p>\n

She extended support to the people of Tosamaidan on the behalf of civil society including trade bodies, employees and tourism stake holders.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the RTI movement chairman Sheikh Ghulam Rasool, said: \u201cWe have given a deadline to Government for making the order public i.e.\u00a018th of April, 2014. Till then protests will continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

He requested people to observe\u00a018th April\u00a0as \u2018Black day\u2019 as the lease agreement is expiring on\u00a018th of April.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year which is black day for all Kashmiris particularly the people who live around Toasmaidan firing range and who have gone through intimidation and terror in the past years at the hands of army,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On the occasion, dozens of protestors including Chairman RTI Movement Dr Sheikh Ghulam Rasool, its spokesperson, Farooq Kuthoo, Sajad Hussain, M.Akram Shaikh were detained by police after they tried to march towards Residency Road. However, they were freed later.<\/p>\n

Welcoming the statement of Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather in which he had claimed that current Government will not extend lease agreement in favor of Army and an alternate place will be provid ed to conduct artillery drills to Army., the RTI movement\u2019s spokesperson, Farooq Kuthoo added: \u201cBut at the same time we will not accept anything until a formal order is passed by the Government in this regard and the protests will continue,\u201d<\/p>\n

He alleged: \u201cWe smell that National Conference has started playing politics over this issue for its vote bank, which is totally unacceptable to the people who have gone through terrible times during last 50 years. If there is sincerity what Government says then they must issue an order in black and white and that shall be made public immediately by 18th of this month.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the occasion, dozens of protestors including Chairman RTI Movement Dr Sheikh Ghulam Rasool, its spokesperson, Farooq Kuthoo, Sajad Hussain, Akram Shaikh were detained by police after they tried to march towards Residency Road. However, they were freed later. (GNS)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Srinagar: Scores of people under the banner of Toasmaidan Bachao front (TBF),\u00a0 Jammu and Kashmir Right to Information (RTI) movement Rural Voice and Kashmir\u00a0 Centre for Social and Development Studies (KCSDS) held a strong protest in Srinagar\u2019s Press Enclave against further extension of Tosa Maidan firing range to army in central Kashmir\u2019s Budgam district. Earlier […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1377,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-union-territory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}