Navlakha: Delhi Wanted Me Out Of Kashmir

Navlakha: Delhi Wanted Me Out Of Kashmir

Srinagar, May 30, KONS: Human rights defender Gautam Navlakha, whom authorities here denied entry into Kashmir a day ago, on Monday accused the centre for the move, saying that New Delhi controlled all the strings governing the state.

Having been detained at the Srinagar airport a day earlier before being sent back to Delhi yesterday, Navlakha said that the central and the state governments were extremely jittery about what turn events would take in Kashmir. 
“They are suffocating the people of Kashmir and their leaders,” Navlakha told the KNS. 


The rights activist, who had arrived in Kashmir on the anniversary of the Shopian tragedy but said that he had come only as a tourist on this occasion, fears an explosive eruption of the “lava of hate and anger” he says is building up here. 
“Barring me entry into Kashmir indicates that the valley has been placed out of bounds for human rights groups,” he said. 


“If this is the response to an ordinary activist like me, one can very well imagine what the real situation in Kashmir must be like,” he said. 


“Small men are holding big positions, and they are constantly plagued by doubts and anxieties,” he said. 


“They have no conviction and trust in their own claims of the situation having improved in Kashmir,” he said.

Habib Yousafzai yousafzai49@gmail.com