Authorities ban Mirdu Rai's lecture in Srinagar
Rai, an internationally-acclaimed author, researcher and scholar, was invited to an annual talk organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society, to pay tribute to late Rughonath Vaishnavi, a well-known Kashmiri Pandit politician and an ardent supporter of Kashmir freedom movement.
The state authorities banned Rai from delivering the lecture and enforced section 144 in the area, which restricts the gathering of more than four people at a place.
JKCCS, had invited Rai to deliver a lecture on 'Language of violence, languages of justice: the state and insurgent Kashmir' at a Hotel in Srinagar.
However, the organizers said the police restricted them to organize the event in the hotel.
Condemning the action by police the Chairman JKCCS Parvez Imroz said, "The program was organized at a hotel here where the booking was made 10 days before. A day before in late hours, the hotel management had been informed that if they allow holding an event, the hotel would be sealed."
"We condemn this action from the authorities and this culture of imposing curbs is just to disconnect people of the state," Imroz said.
Another, Khuram Parvaiz, a rights activist and Coalition of Civil Society member said: "At last moment the government has threatened action against Hotel Grand Mumtaz, Srinagar, if they allowed the Pt Rughonath Vaishnavi Annual Talk which was scheduled to be delivered by Prof Mridu Rai."
Meanwhile, Senior Separatist Leader of Kashmir Syed Ali Shah Geelani castigated the state government and said that Jammu & Kashmir is actually a police state where the government is totally intolerant towards the opposite voices.
He further said that the internet has revolutionized the communication system of the present era and there are many ways available with the people to reach every corner of the world.
Banning of such conferences and events in this era is ridicules on the part of government and it is absolute ignorance of the banning authority, Geelani added.
(Reporting by Saleem Iqbal Qadri)
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