Police detains protesting govt employees in J-K

Thousands of employees staged a massive demonstration at Sher-e-Kashmir park in the heart of Srinagar. Police acted when the protesters tried to take out a march to the office of the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, official sources said.

The slogan-shouting employees were stopped and baton charged by police at Regal Chowk and over 100 employees including their leader Khurshid Aalam were detained, they said.

Over 4.5 lakh government employees went on a three-day strike from Tuesday in response to the call given by Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) - an amalgam of various employees' bodies - badly affecting work in government offices across Jammu and Kashmir.

Accusing government of pushing JCC to the wall, the employees' leaders threatened to intensify their stir if the government failed to meet their demands.

"The government came to an agreement with us last year but failed to implement the promises...We want implementation of the agreement, otherwise a more decisive and indefinite strike would be initiated," Aalam said.