Today CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yecury and D. Raja were detained at the Srinagar airport and denied entry into the city. They had gone to Srinagar to meet their party colleagues.
“They showed us a legal order which did not allow any entry into Srinagar. It stated that even escorted movement int the city is not permitted due to security reasons. We are still trying to negotiate with them,” Mr. Yechury told PTI over the phone.
Mr. Yechury told the press that he had written to Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik on August 8, informing him of their visit and requesting him to facilitate their entry. In the letter, he mentions the purpose of the visit. He also tweeted the handwritten letter to Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik earlier today. The letter was to notify him that he and D. Raja would be taking the 9.55 am IndiGo flight to Srinagar to visit CPI(M) leader Yusuf Tarigami. Tarigami, an MLA in the “dissolved J&K assembly” was not well, Yechury had written.
Com D Raja and I are on our way to Srinagar on the 9.55 am Indigo flight to meet Com Yousuf Tarigami and our other comrades in Jammu & Kashmir pic.twitter.com/axRKZkLbV6
— Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) August 9, 2019
He said – “Both of us had written to the Governor requesting him that there should be no hurdles to our visit… despite that we have been detained. I wanted to meet my ailing colleague and our comrades who are here,”
In a statement issued by the CPI(M) party, it said such an act by the government is “anti-democratic” and showed the ruling BJP’s “authoritarian face”.
.@SitaramYechury has being detained at Srinagar Airport and not allowed to move anywhere. This despite the fact that he had informed the administration about his visit to meet CPIM MLA MY Tarigami who is not well & other party workers.
We strongly protest this illegal detention.— CPI (M) (@cpimspeak) August 9, 2019
On August 8, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad was detained and sent back to Delhi from the Srinagar airport.
There are reports of around 500 political workers and leaders including ex-chief minister Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti. National Conference leader and ex-chief minister Farooq Abdullah is also under house arrest.
Section 144 has been imposed on the state and security forces have been deployed in massive numbers across the Valley, particularly in Srinagar city and major towns, and barricades have been erected every 100 meters. As of now, all telephone and internet connections have also been snapped in the Valley and only three news channels, including state-run Doordarshan, can be accessed through cable TV networks.
