‘Charge GoI under UAPA,’ says Srinagar MP Aga Ruhullah after police action on pro-Palestine slogans in Muharram march

Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) Member of Parliament (MP) from Srinagar, Aga Ruhullah Mehdi has condemned police action on youth for raising pro-Palestine slogans during one of the Muharram processions earlier this week.

The Jammu and Kashmir police filed a case under stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) against unknown persons for allegedly raising Hezbollah flags and slogans supporting Palestine during 8th Muharram procession taken out in parts of Srinagar on July 15.

Ruhullah, who had earlier condemned the the reported detention of youths by police in Kashmir, said on July 15 that the UAPA charges should also be filed against Union government for its state policy in favour of Palestinians.

“If supporting Palestine invites UAPA, it is self explanatory. It shows these are illegal actions against Kashmiri's by administration. If you have to file UAPA charges, file it against Government of India. Because India's state policy has been in favour of Palestine,” the NC leader told reporters on the sidelines of Ashura (10th Muharram) procession in a Srinagar neighborhood on July 17.

Mehdi defeated PDP’s Waheed Para from Srinagar in Lok Sabha Elections 2024.

“It is not a crime to support Palestine. It is in out spirit. It is very much in the foreign policy of India. They have been booked because they are Kashmiri Muslims,” he said.

Police said the FIR was registered against the group of youth for violating administration's guidelines for the Muharram procession that passed through Srinagar and was attended by thousands of the Shia mourners on July 15. The 8th Muharram procession which was banned in Srinagar until last year.

India has for long supported and voted in the UN for a two-state solution that allows Palestinians to live freely in an independent nation within secure borders, while also addressing Israel’s legitimate security concerns. In the 1970s, under the Congress government, India became the first non-Arab country to support the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and its leader Yasser Arafat as the formal representative of Palestinians in the General Assembly.

On July 15, Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Union government released the first tranche of $2.5 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), as part of its annual contribution of $5 million for the year 2024-25.

In February 2024, the then Junior Foreign Minister V Muraleedharan told Lok Sabha that India’s policy towards Palestine has been long standing and consistent. 

“We have supported a negotiated two State solution, towards establishment of a sovereign, independent and viable State of Palestine within secure and recognized borders, living side by side in peace with Israel,” he said.

India has strongly condemned the terror attacks on Israel on 07 October 2023 and the loss of civilian lives in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, the Minister, however, said calling for restraint and de-escalation and peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.