Nowshera residents to protest outside Parl for district status demand

The agitating residents of Nowshera in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir today decided to stage a protest in New Delhi soon to press for their long pending demand for district status.

The decision to hold a sit-in outside Parliament was taken by the Joint Action Committee (JAC) which is spearheading the ongoing 45-day long agitation in the border town, its state secretary Jagdish Sawhney told PTI.

He said the JAC is finalising the date and other arrangements for the proposed protest.

People in Nowshera, Kalakote and Sunderbani towns of Rajouri district went on an indefinite strike on February 16 to protest the government decision to appoint Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) for Kotranka area and allegedly ignoring them.

On March 9, the state government announced new posts of ADCs to work on rotational basis in Nowshera, Sunderbani, Kalakote and Kotranka areas in an attempt to defuse the crisis.

But the formula was rejected by the residents of the strike-hit areas and threatened to intensify the agitation to press for the district status or permanent ADC posts.

A 'Jammu Chalo' rally by hundreds of residents was thwarted by the local administration on March 17 with an assurance that their demands would be addressed by the government.

After the assurance, the agitated residents cancelled their programme to gherao civil secretariat on March 19 in support of their demand.

Violent clashes rocked the town on March 24 leaving many people including Rajouri Deputy Commissioner Shahid Iqbal Choudhary and a police officer injured.

The clashes erupted a day after the government announced appointment of ADC in the three towns of Nowshera, Sunderbani and Kalakote.

The state government has miserably failed us and we have now decided to move to Delhi and present our demand to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Sawhney said.

He said the JAC is of the view that the state government has deceived them time and again and "we will continue our agitation till we achieve our goal of district status".