Srinagar: Police in Srinagar has stopped an academic lecture by writer Dr. Mridu Rai in a hotel citing Section 144.
A report claimed that Rai was to deliver a lecture on “Languages of violence, languages of justice: the state and insurgent Kashmir” at 2 pm at the Grand Mumtaz Hotel.
It had been organised as a part of the Pandit Rughonath Vaishnavi Annual Talk by the well-known Kashmir human rights body Coalition of Civil Society (CCS).
Report claimed that the police came to the hotel on Tuesday evening and asked the managers to cancel the lecture. This is the first time an academic lecture has been banned by the police in Jammu and Kashmir.
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said that the government could not ban intellectual activity under the garb of Section 144. PDP has also condemned the ban.
Convenor of CCS Pervez Imroz said, “We were threatened by sub district police officer (SDPO) Sheikh Faisal Qayoom (Kothi Bagh police station) to seal the hotel in case we went ahead with the programme.”
He also said that Rughonath Vaishnavi, in whose name the programme was being organised, had fought for political rights in Kashmir along with the forefathers of chief minister Omar Abdullah. Imroz further condemned this ban.
Meanwhile Deputy Commissioner Farooq Shah said that NGOs and similar bodies needed permission from authorities to organise such functions.
Bureau Report
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