| Submit your comments on this article |
| India-Pakistan |
| Pro-azadi town now turns to Indian govt |
| 2009-10-13 |
| For the first time on Monday (October 12), the people of Kupwara made an emotional appeal to the Indian government wanting jobs and better prospects. Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district remained shut down on Monday with protestors blocking roads at various points. Vehicular traffic was also blocked. This time though, the protests are not for 'Azadi', but for better governance. Legislators, intellectuals, traders, lawyers and transporters of the district joined in the protests for better governance. One of the key demands of protestors is the reservation of jobs for locals in Kupwara district. Protestors called a bandh in the frontier district following the selection of “outsiders” mostly from particular Jammu districts against the openings in district cadres of Kupwara. People of the border district, including legislators, are up in arms against the inter-district recruitment policy describing it as sheer discrimination against the unemployed youth. “How can the unemployed youth of Kalaroos, Karnah, Mawar and Lolab compete with the youth of Jammu who regularly enjoy sufficient coaching at the tuition centers and study in prestigious institutions of India. We wouldn’t allow them to snatch our right. How can they apply for district cadre post here,” a postgraduate student from Handwara said. What is surprising is that the Kupwara district on the border of India and Pakistan has been fiercely pro-Azadi. In the last 20 years they have observed 2000 bandhs. On an average 100 days of protests and strikes demanding Azadi, boycotting polls etc. |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #1 Azadi = Freedom in Persian. I think iit is the same word in Urdhu and Hindi. |
| Posted by: JFM 2009-10-13 09:13 |