Srinagar, Sep 11,: Senior Aam Aadmi Party leaders on Thursday alleged that they were detained in Srinagar and prevented from holding a scheduled press conference.
AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh and Delhi MLA Imran Hussain, who is also the party’s in-charge for Jammu and Kashmir, said they were confined to a guest house in Church Lane by the administration and barred from addressing the media.
Speaking to the news agency, Kashmir News Trust over the phone, Imran Hussain said, “Democracy is being murdered here. We were scheduled to address a press conference but were denied permission. We are being held at the guest house in Church Lane, its gate locked, and no reason has been provided for our detention.”
Hussain said they had planned to highlight the detention of AAP MLA Mehraj Malik of Doda, who was recently booked under the Public Safety Act. “Mehraj Malik is in jail because he raised the problems of his people. He is an elected representative. If elected representatives are not allowed to speak and raise their voice, then what is the purpose of being an MLA, and what is the meaning of democracy?” Hussain remarked.
He added that the party will take up the issue in New Delhi.
Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh said this is a glaring example of ‘dictatorship’. “Is it a crime to hold a press conference in a democracy? Is it a crime to stage a protest against ‘illegal’ detention of an elected MLA,” Singh questioned.
[KNT]
