Srinagar: Aam Admi Party (AAP) has vowed to fight against granting of further extension of lease to Artillery unit of Army for using the Tosamaidan pasture as a filed firing range.
In a statement issued to KNS, AAP leader and Lok Sabha candidate for Srinagar parliamentary seat Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat said that Aam Aadmi Party would resist any move of the Government for granting further extension in the lease agreement post April 2014 as AAP believes that granting extension would directly effect the local population which has suffered tremendous losses from the last more than six decades.
“Tosamaidan is a huge pasture which is spread over hundreds of acres of land and the area has a great potential to be developed as a tourist destination. Dozens of people have been killed and same number of people turned permanently disable due to bursting of un exploded shells which remain scattered in the area and if further lease is extended , it clearly would indicate that Government is least bothered about the basic human rights of the citizens. We hope that high level committee constituted few months back under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary would look into the human aspect first and ensure that the field firing range is shifted from Tosamaidan to some uninhabited area of the state” said Dr Muzaffar
If lease agreement is extended AAP would hold state wide agitation over this issue, the statement added. “I have already filed a petition in the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) regarding Tosamaidan issue last year and I hope that NHRC will deliver justice and direct the Defence Ministry not to extend the further lease agreement,” Dr Muzaffar has added.(KNS)