By TwoCircles.net, Staff Reporter,
Srinagar : The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Friday threatened to launch a massive agitation besides enforcing an economic blockade on Kashmir region if the assembly allowed a discussion to revoke provisions criminalizing bovine slaughter and sale of beef in the state.
“We warn the state government that Jammu would observe a black day and the people of the region would be forced to take to the streets if the Assembly Speaker allowed a discussion on an anti-beef ban bill,” Leela Karan Sharma, president of VHP’s state unit told reporters.
“If the beef ban is revoked, VHP would enforce an economic blockade in Kashmir, forcing people to starve. The people of Jammu would not tolerate it…the government will have face consequences,” he said.
“People will be forced to take to the streets and launch an agitation similar to the one in 2008 if slaughtering of bovines continued unabated in the region,” Sharma said.
He said it was a “sensitive” issue related to religious and emotional sentiments of Hindus. “Nobody should be allowed to play with the sentiments of over one billion Hindus across the globe,” he added.
It is worth mentioning here that the Opposition party in State Assembly, National Conference on Wednesday moved an anti-beef ban Bill in the Legislative Assembly for the forthcoming session, seeking omission of Sections 298-A, 298-B, 298-C and 298-D of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC).
The brief eight-day autumn session of the Assembly will start on October 3 and the opposition NC has decided to corner the coalition government in the coming session on the issue of beef ban.
On the Other hand the activists of Jammu and Kashmir Panthers Party carried out cow worship ritual at famous Raghunath Temple here as a protest against bovine slaughter in Kashmir Valley despite High Court ordering implementation of ban on sale of beef.
Over 150 activists of the party led by its chairman and former minister Harsh Dev Singh assembled proceeded to the temple with a cow and worshipped it there.
The protestors raised the slogans demanding end to cow slaughter in Kashmir, action against those indulging in it and implementation of the ban. Later, they took out a procession which passed through several markets and lanes of old city areas.
Meanwhile, reacting sharply to the statement from VHP threatening of another 2008-like economic blockade of Kashmir, the Kashmir Inc. on Saturday said, “threat call was eye opener that the RSS and its off shots were responsible for the previous humanitarian crisis enforced on Kashmir seven years ago and that the same right wing forces were again hell bent to divide the state on regional/communal lines.”
The business community maintained that the provocation in the name of religion was intolerable as “we are Muslims first, businesspersons later”.
Addressing a press conference, the business fraternity of Kashmir including Kashmir Economic Alliance, the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries and the Kashmir Traders and Manufactures Federation, businessman Mohammed Yasin Khan said, “we appeal the international community particular humans rights groups like Amnesty International and Asia Watch to probe the deaths and other humanitarian crisis that was enforced on the people of Kashmir through a deep rooted conspiracy in 2008.”
He added that besides killing of innocent civilians, “the right wing forces were responsible for scores of death in 2008 due to shortage of medicines and even baby food when the highway was taken hostage.”
Khan further said, “The bigger question was silence of the PDP led government towards such sinister designs being hatched by their allies in coalition.”
“We want the PDP led government headed by Mufti Mohammed Sayeed to clear its stand on the issue because for all practical purposes PDP and BJP are partners in the alliance which is proving anti-Kashmir and anti-Muslim,” Khan demanded.
Reacting to the VHP threat of economic blockade, he said, “The ball was in the court of Jammu Inc. Now the ball is in the court of Jammu business community whether they want to go with the designs of the communal forces or they want to uphold their traditional business ties with Kashmir.”