Jammu: Senior Congress leaders, including Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) president Tariq Hameed Karra, AICC general secretary and Congress Legislature Party leader G.A. Mir, and working president Raman Bhalla, were detained on Sunday after police stopped the party’s protest march towards the Lieutenant Governor’s residence in Jammu over the demand for restoration of statehood.
According to a party statement, hundreds of Congress workers participated in a sit-in at Maharaja Hari Singh Park before taking out a protest march towards the LG House. The march was intercepted by police at Vinayak Bazar, where the senior leadership was taken into preventive custody and shifted to the District Police Lines, Gandhi Nagar. They were later released.
The Congress claimed that workers from across Jammu and Kashmir, including more than 500 from the Kashmir Valley, participated in the protest. Before the march, party leaders paid floral tributes at the statue of Maharaja Hari Singh at the park.
Addressing the gathering, Karra accused the Centre of delaying the restoration of statehood despite repeated assurances and said the Congress would continue its campaign until the demand was fulfilled. He also announced that the party was planning a “Lakhanpur to Lolab” march to mobilise public support for the restoration of statehood.
Karra said the Congress had decided to remain out of the government after the formation of the elected government in October 2024 and instead continue its agitation for statehood. He also said he and G.A. Mir would participate in the National Conference’s protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Sunday in support of the demand.
Speaking on the occasion, G.A. Mir said the demand for restoration of statehood had become a people’s movement and reiterated the party’s commitment to pursuing the issue.
Several other party leaders, including former MP Choudhary Lal Singh, former ministers Mula Ram, Yogesh Sawhney, G.M. Saroori and Jugal Kishore Sharma, Chief Whip Nizamuddin Bhat, chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma and other office-bearers, also addressed the gathering.
The party said a memorandum seeking restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood was submitted to the Lieutenant Governor’s office for onward transmission to the President of India.
