Srinagar/Jammu, May 26: Police on Saturday foiled the march of Joint Consultative Committee to Raj Bhavan by arresting hundreds of employees in and around LalChowk.
On the call of JCC, hundreds of employees today tried to assemble at Press Colony here, however sensing the deployment of police personnel there, employees chose to start the rally from nearby Abi Guzar lane. However police swiftly swung into action and bundled them into vehicles. As the rally was almost fazed down, hundreds of employees from Ganta Ghar side started approaching the Press Colony led by Ram Kumar, Abdul Gafoor Dar, Rafiq Khanyari and Ghulam Rasool Geelani which gave police a tough time.
Sensing the size of the gathering, police officials sought police vehicles and personnel from different police stations of the city. However employees managed to regroup themselves in and around Press Colony only to be arrested.
Among those arrested were Nusrat Beigh, Imtiyaz Hussain, Naseer Wani, Mehboob Trali, Nazir Ahmed Dar, Muhammad Shafi, Riyaz Ahmed, Mir Nazir, Nazir Ahmed Jaan, Ghulam Nabi Mir, Muzafar Ganie, Muhammad Amin Khan, Ali Muhammad Mir, Aijaz Ahmed Bhat, Muhammad Yousuf, Rafiq Ahmed, Naseer Ahmed, Abdul Rashid.
“The procession started from several locations: Bemina, Raj Bagh, Food and Supplies department and Maisuma. But they were stopped by force. Around 600 employees are lodged in different police stations across the city,” senior JCC leader Gafoor Dar said.
Taking to Greater Kashmir, JCC leader Khursheed Alam castigated the police action and thanked the employees for showing deterrence. “Even in absence of leaders they gave tough time to police. I appreciate the resolve of the employees. Entry points were sealed but still thousands of employees protested. From Khanyar to Pantha Chowk every police station is filled with employees. I want to make it clear to government that we will not allow this policy of suppression to succeed. The policy of suppression will not solve the issue. JCC leadership has decided to call for a meeting to decide future course of action,” Alam said.
Other JCC leaders Fayaz Shabnum, Farooq Ahmed Trali, Gafoor Dar condemned the police action and appreciated the resolve of employees.
As the bigwigs of JCC are lodged in police stations, JCC has formed a 12-member core group to decide future course of action.
The core group comprises of Rafiq Ahmed Khanyari, Madan Sangral, Ram Kumar Sharma EJAC(R); Bashir Ahmed Ganie, Ghulam Muhammad Dobi, Sardar Kulwant Singh EJAC (K); Gafoor Dar, Mushtaq Ahmed Badana, G.R.Geelani EJAC (J); Haji Bashir, Nisar Ahmed, Shabir Ahmed EJAC(Q).
JCC leader Ram Kumar said, “It was decided in meeting of the core group to go for a four days strike now. However we will decide the date tomorrow. Now we will launch a full-fledged agitation.”
However JCC leader Qayoom Wani said that they have yet to decide about the strike. “We have yet to decide the days, we have also not decided what sort of agitation we are going to launch. But it is definite we will launch fourth phase of agitation. It depends upon the release of JCC leaders,” he said.
JK Daily Wagers Joint Action Forum General Secretary, S Omar Bhat, said, “One of the biggest issues is that of regularization of the daily wagers. But till now successive regimes made promises before assuming power and simply forget the same when in power,” he said.
The chief patron of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh All Departments Clerical Association, Ram Kumar Sharma, also joined the protest at Press Colony. Sharma criticized the government action on employees.
Chairman of Peoples Conference Sajad Gani Lone has condemned the use of force against the striking employees.
“Disagreements are a part of any civilized society. And in a civilized society opposing parties sit across a table and negotiate a settlement. Using police to arrest the striking employees, commando style raids on the residences of respected leaders of the employees reeks of arrogance and lack of faith in democracy,” Sajad said in a statement.
“The employees have a right to protest. The government of the day needs urgently to get out of its POTA and PSA hangover. Far too long they have been using it to silence their political opponents and voices of dissent. The culture of using police as a tool to silence dissent needs to end. The government needs to make up its mind whether it wants to dupe the employees in the name of false promises or wants to actually deliver,” he added.
“The government is backing out of the promises that it has made to the employees in the past. And when the striking employees want to register their protest against the broken promises, the government uses force against them. We strongly condemn the nocturnal raid on the residence of Abdul Qayoom Wani. The government of the day needs to leave young children and families of the striking employees out of the conflict. We want to assure the employees that we express solidarity with them on their right to put forward their demands,” Sajad said.

JCC FOR UNCONDITIONAL RELEASE OF LEADERS:
The Joint Consultative Committee today threatened to intensify agitation if government doesn’t release its leaders.
While staging a massive protest demonstration in front of Divisional Commissioner office in Jammu on the final day of the three-day strike,  the JCC leaders asked the government to stop using repressive means to gag the voice of employees who are fighting for their rights.
Earlier, hundreds of employees assembled outside divisional commissioner office at Panama Chowk and raised slogans in favour of their demands, including enhancement in retirement age from 58 to 60 years, payment of 6th Pay Commission arrears in two equal installments, removal of pay anomalies, regularisation of daily wagers and contractual employees.
Meanwhile, normal work remained affected in all government offices on Saturday as the employees stayed away from their duties and held protest demonstration in front of their respective offices.
Addressing the protesting employees, Arun Mozha, senior leader JCC warned the government against testing the patience of employees.
He alleged that the government has forced the employees to come out on the roads as their already agreed demands were not being settled.
He accused the government of adopting repressive means against the employees and demanded early release of the JCC leaders arrested in Srinagar. He threatened that the arrested union leaders should be released unconditionally otherwise the employees would be forced to intensify their agitation.
“Employees don’t want confrontation but they are being forced by the state government for strikes and agitation”, he added.
He also urged the political parties to build pressure on the government for implementation of the agreements reached with employees from time to time.
Among others who addressed the gathering included Nazir Ahmed Molvi, Rajinder Kumar, Molvi Muneer Ahmad, Vikram Jeet Singh, Vijay Chowdhary, Abdul Rashid Malik, Karan Singh, Naresh Sharma and Amrik Singh Sasan.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 26 May 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 26 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 27 May 2012 00:00:00 IST