PUCL condemns Delhi Police for cancelling meeting on Kashmir at Gandhi Peace Foundation

New Delhi: The People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) on Friday condemned Delhi Police for cancelling a meeting on "Media blackout and state repression in Kashmir" that was to be held at the Gandhi Peace Foundation here on March 15.

In a statement, the PUCL said Police gave two false reasons for its action:

Law and order in the area may be disturbed and no permission was sought from police for the meeting.

It said the meeting was to be held not on the ground but inside the auditorium of the GPF and no permission is required to hold an indoor public meeting. If police suspected any disturbance, it could have taken adequate mesures to control the law and order situation.

Police also claimed that the meeting was organised by an anonymous group and it could not verify details of its members.The PUCL said the meeting was organised by the Campaign against State Repression (CASR), a wellknown body of civil rights activists and organisations which has been organizing  public meetings, demonstrations from time to time in Delhi and its activities are covered by the media.  

"This meeting on Kashmir was to be addressed by eminent personalities in public life like Justice Hussain Masoodi, a Rajya Sabha MP and retd. High court judge, Prof. Nandita Narain, well known activist and former Chairperson of DUTA, CPI(M) leader MYTarigami, film maker Sanjay Kak and Mr. Shahid Saleem, the Chairman of the United Peace Alliance. All are well known figures in public life. It is quite clear that the law and order problem is not the issue, real motive was to gag the freedom of speech on an important public issue involving rights of the people of Kashmir," PUCL said.

It, therefore, urges upon the government and the Police to desist from following such unconstitutional and unlawful methods which are in violation of the constitutional rights of the citizens and are harmful to our democratic system.