Protests, functions held on Human Rights Day in Valley

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, December 10

Protests and official functions marked Human Rights Day in the Kashmir valley today.

Independent legislator Engineer Rashid was detained when he tried to take out a march towards the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) office here.

A spokesman of the Awami Itihaad Party said that Rashid was detained by the police at Rajbagh in Srinagar while he was leading a protest march against “unabated human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir.”

Pro-freedom leaders and activists of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front were also detained when they tried to march towards the United Nations Military Observers Group for India and Pakistan to highlight the human rights violations in Kashmir on World Human Rights Day.

A sit-in was held by the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons in Srinagar. The protesters assembled at Srinagar’s Pratap Park and staged a silent protest.

Meanwhile, former Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court and SHRC chairperson Bilal Nazki today sought cooperation of the people for making the commission effective.

“People should repose their faith in the SHRC and we will do our best to deliver,” he said while addressing a function at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre here. “The SHRC is not a toothless body. It will deliver once people repose their faith in us,” he added.

The chairperson sought six months to make the commission effective.