Press release by Pakistan India Peoples' Forum for Peace and Democracy, West Bengal Chapter
11th July,1999.
Pakistan India Peoples' Forum for Peace and Democracy, West Bengal Chapter
strongly condmns the organised hooliganism perpetrated against some
students of Presidency and other colleges, who were participating in a
street corner meeting demanding "peace and cessation of war between India
and Pakistan"outside Sealdah station on the afternoon of 10th July,1999.
It has been gathered on our enquiry that when the meeting was going on
some miscreants rushed on to the organisers of the meeting shouting " They
are the agents of ISI. Kill them . Burn them.......".They poured petrol on
the banner and leaflets used in the meeting and destroyed those materials
in fire. All the apparatus of the poor mikeman were also destroyed with
equal vengeance. They even tried to put the girl, who was giving her
speech at that time , in fire after pouring petrol on her. Quite contrary
to the report published in a section of the prees that ' it was a
spontaneous reaction of the common lsitners, the listners of the meeting
came to the rescue of the students and despatched them to the safer places
in taxis. However, at the instance of some of the miscreants the GRP at
Sealdah station detained one of the organisers. Three of the organisers
who went to Muchipara police station to register a general diary against
the miscreants were escorted by the authorities there, after they
registered the diary, to the GRP at Sealdah. All the four students were
detained by the GRP for a couple of hours. At the intervention of Pakistan
India Peoples' Forum for Peace and Democracy, West Bengal Chapter,
Association for Protection of Democratic Rights and some other
organisations the students were subsequently released on PR Bonds around 9
in the evening.
Along with other political and social organisatios and peace loving
intellectuals and individuals Pakistan India Peoples' Forum for Peace and
Democracy, West Bengal Chapter has given a call for a march on 15th
July,1999 at 2 P.M from College Square :
- to protest the hooliganism perpetrated by the semi-fascist/fascist section of the society aginst the workers of peace intiatives and
- demanding cessation of war in Kargil, immediate resumption of peace negotiation between India and Pakistan withstanding any directives of the superpower or powers but through a process of resolving all disputes between them including the dispute of Kahsmir, where the expectations and aspirations of the people of Kashmir from both sides of the LOC will be taken care of .
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