Srinagar People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) on Tuesday said that the latest decision of the Administration to create state Investigating Agency (SIA) by all counts is only aimed to strengthen the repressive apparatus in this region.
PAGD in a statement issued to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) said that the formation of one more agency empowered with unbridled powers is one more assault on democratic rights and civil liberties of citizens. “In the name of fighting terrorism these agencies and laws are being weaponised against the citizens who hold a different viewpoint from the government,” PAGD spokesman, Muhammad Yousuf Tarigami said.
“What was the need to add one more such agency? When already NIA and UAPA have created havoc among the people by gross misuse of these draconian measures. J&K is a political issue and needs a political outreach. What was required to be done was to provide relief and not any addition to such harsh measures which are bound to deepen their alienation,” he said.
PAGD had opposed all such laws in the past and will do so in future as well. Even eminent jurists in the country have expressed resentment over the draconian laws being passed by the government in the name of fighting terrorism. These laws can be wielded as a weapon against opponents. The fight to defend democracy must encompass the struggle to get rid of these draconian laws, it added—(KNO)
