STATE TIMES NEWS

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Friday detained 50 trade union leaders and activists who were planning to hold a protest at Lal Chowk here in support of the demands of agitating farmers.
The protest was planned in response to the Samyukta Kisan Morcha’s call for a ‘Bharat Bandh’ to press the government to accept the agitating farmers’ demands, including a legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for crops.
The leaders and activists were detained by police near Pratap Park on Residency Road as they were assembling for protests and taken to Kothibagh police station, officials said.
CPI(M) leader M Y Tarigami condemned the police action.
“Condemning in no uncertain terms the use of forces against the peaceful protest of Apple Farmers’ Federation of India, scheme workers and CITU leaders organised in response to Grameen Bharat Bandh,” Tarigami said on a series of posts on X.
He claimed that scores of leaders, including Kulgam District Development Council (DDC) chairman Mohammad Afzal, Apple Farmers’ Federation of India president Zahoor Ahmad Rather, general secretary Abdul Rasheed, were “unjustly arrested after being bundled into police vehicles”.
“The use of brute force against peaceful protesters is an affront to democracy and a violation of fundamental rights,” he added.
Farmers from Punjab began their ‘Delhi Chalo’ march on Tuesday but were stopped by security personnel at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana.
The protesting farmers have been camping at the border points ever since. Their agitation entered the fourth day on Friday.

Tarigami leads protest in Jammu in support of agitating farmers

Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir unit of CITU and the Kisan Tehrik led by senior CPI(M) leader M Y Tarigami on Friday held a protest here in support of the farmers who have hit the streets demanding among other things a law guaranteeing a Minimum Support Price (MSP) for their produce. Tarigami, who is also the president of J&K unit of Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), said the protest was organized in support of the nationwide strike called by Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) along with central trade unions and federations.
Amid chants of anti-government, pro-farmer and pro-worker slogans, the protesters assembled outside the Maharaja Hari Singh Park and held a peaceful protest. However, they were not allowed to take out a rally by policemen who were deployed in strength.
“After a long struggle last year, the farmers were successful in compelling the government to revoke three farm laws. The government had made several promises but failed to keep them, forcing the farmers to come on the streets once again,” Tarigami said. He appealed to the prime minister to accept the demands of the farmers and implement the recommendations of renowned agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan, who was recently awarded Bharat Ratna, to provide relief to the farmers. The farmers are suffering in the absence of the MSP and they should be given a one-time loan waiver as well, he said, criticizing privatization of public sector and change of labour laws.
“The workers employed in industrial, public or private sector are suffering due to inflation and low wages. The government is behaving in a dictatorial way which should be ended as we are a democracy,” Tarigami said.
He also demanded restoration of the old pension scheme, and ensure pension and social security for all workers in both formal and informal sectors.
The CPI(M) leader also condemned the “police action of using force” against a similar protest in Srinagar and said “this is Naya (new) Kashmir where nobody is allowed to highlight their demand in a democratic manner.” PTI TAS