Protest for J&K: UP puts Magsaysay Awardee under house arrest

Lucknow, Aug 11 (IANS) Social activist and Magsaysay Award winner Sandeep Pandey was put under house arrest on Sunday after he announced a dharna to protest against the scrapping of Article 370 and the shut down in Jammu and Kashmir.The protest 'Stand for Kashmir' was to be held on Sunday evening at the GPO Park here. "All of a sudden, police in four vans arrived at our house in the morning and told us that we cannot stage the dharna, because of prohibitory orders in the city. They said the prohibitory orders would be lifted after Independence Day. So I told them that we would stage the dharna after the orders are lifted. Yet, they are standing outside my house and no one is allowed to enter or leave the house," said Pandey over telephone.His wife Arundhati Dhuru, who is the national convener of the National Alliance of People's Movement (NAPM), is also under house arrest.Lucknow District Magistrate and Senior Superintendent of Police did not respond to calls and the government spokesman refused to comment on the matter.Pandey had won the Ramon Magsaysay award in 2002 in the emergent leadership category.
--IANS amita/rtp