The Hindu - July 20, 2001

Police thwart work on memorial

By Shujaat Bukhari

SRINAGAR JULY 19. The foundation stone for the memorial for over 3000 missing persons in Kashmir, laid on Wednesday at the Eidgah cemetery, was removed by police on Wednesday.

The Inspector-General of Police, Kashmir Zone, Dr. Ashok Bhan, confirmed that the marble-plated foundation stone was removed after registering a case of trespassing into Government land. ``They had encroached the Government land and a case was registered. Further investigation is on,'' he said.

However, Dr. Bhan could not give an explanation to the fact that the ``martyrs' graveyard'' was already existing at the place where the memorial was proposed to be built. So far, thousands of people killed in the violence have been buried in cemetery.

The land is the property of the Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Auqaf Trust which manages over 100 shrines and mosques, including Hazratbal and Charar-e-Sharief. The vice-chairman of the Trust, Mr. Ghulam Nabi Kochak, said he had no information about the police action and had not made any complaint.

Local residents told The Hindu that as soon as work began on the memorial police started making enquiries and, on Wednesday night, they came along with the Border Security Forces (BSF) to demolish it. The locals strongly reacted to the police action saying ``the land in question belongs to the people of the valley and to build a memorial was to remember those killed in custody''.

The Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), which is planning to build the memorial, also condemned the police action.

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