"If the people of Jammu have the tricolour in their hands today, tomorrow they could even have bombs and AK-47s if compelled."
Amid slogans of ‘Bum Bum Bhole’, the Jammu High Court Bar Association president raised eyebrows on Wednesday with provocative statements in the light of the brutal Kathua rape. Seeking to turn the spotlight onto the Rohingya debate, another hot button issue for Jammu, B.S. Salathia said: "If the people of Jammu have the tricolour in their hands today, tomorrow they could even have bombs and AK-47s if compelled."
“If you will not remove Rohingyas from Jammu, then we have the right to remove them with any weapon. If you have the mettle, ask police and the CRPF to stop us,” Salathia said amid cheers from the lawyers.
Pointing to women lawyers, Salathia said: “We have many lionesses too. If asked, they can tear you apart (yeh aap ko nouch dalenge). We have many lions and lionesses. You will not get a chance to move out of Jammu”, he said. He reminded Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti of the 2008 Amarnath agitation spearheaded by the Bar, in which the Kashmir valley was subjected to an economic blockade, and said they didn’t even allow Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba to come out of the airport for three hours.
Earlier, the Jammu and Kashmir Police filed an FIR against lawyers of Jammu who tried to prevent Crime Branch officers from filing a charge sheet in a court on Monday in connection with the Kathua rape and murder case.
Kathua rape victim family’s lawyer, Deepika S Rajawat had accused Salathia of issuing open threats to her asking her not to appear in the court.She also alleged that local lawyers were trying to protect the accused.