Kashmiri Pandit township issue: J-K MLA Engineer Rashid taken into preventive custody

Police in Srinagar have reportedly taken Independent MLA Engineer Rashid and several of his supporters into preventive custody following a protest against the PDP-BJP state government of Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

The protests against the state government was over its reported plan to create separate and segregated townships for Kashmiri Pandits in the Kashmir Valley.

Last month, Rashid drew flak for demanding that Kashmiri Pandits apologise to the majority Muslim community for migrating and leaving the latter behind at the mercy of guns, grenades, bullets, crack-downs, PSAs, AFSPA, custodial killings, rapes, murders, forced labor, custodial disappearances, humiliation and rule of lawlessness.

He had then said that Kashmiri Pandits must understand that they should not have left the valley under the worst circumstances, and if they were to return, they must live and die with their Muslim brothers under all eventualities.

Rashid's remarks came against the backdrop of a move by the Center to build composite townships for Kashmiri Pandits, which sparked off protests by separatist groups.

Kashmiri Pandit organisations too registered their protest against the concept of composite townships, saying that it would be akin to living in ghetto-like conditions.

Activists of the Congress are also protesting in the Maisuma area of the city. The protesters were heading towards the civil secretariat. About 600 to 700 people took part in the protest that involved stone pelting against the law enforcement authorities. Further details are awaited.