Shaheen Bagh: Lawyers say viral fight priority

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court-appointed mediators, who had urged the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protesters at Shaheen Bagh to move to an alternate site, said the country was facing a “grave pandemic”, which was a matter of everyone’s priority.
Reacting to the clearance of the protest site on Tuesday morning, lawyers Sanjay Hegde and Sadhana Ramachandran pointed out that while some rigours of the blockade were relaxed by the protesters by clearing peripheral roads, the remaining few Shaheen Bagh protesters were finally dispersed “peacefully with minimal force”.
Owing to the communal riots in northeast Delhi, the apex court had adjourned a plea to shift the Shaheen Bagh protest to an alternative site to March 23. Following their first round of dialogue, the mediators had submitted their report in the court in February. During the second round of dialogue on March 3, they praised the protesters for maintaining peace and calm despite tensions surrounding other parts of the city.
The lawyers, on Tuesday, requested people not to perceive the clearance as a question of “winning or losing” while urging both the administration and the protesters to not do anything that could aggravate the situation. “The country has a grave pandemic threatening it and currently that must receive priority in terms of everyone’s attention,” the interlocutors said. They also requested the administration and the protesters to not do anything that would “exacerbate the underlying tensions that culminated in the street protests”.
According to the mediators, the process of interlocution had reinforced a number of valuable lessons, including the need for continued dialogue at all times. “We believe that the Supreme Court mandated interlocution kept the protests at Shaheen Bagh peaceful even while violence erupted in other parts of Delhi,” they added.
The interlocutors have, until now, submitted two reports to the SC detailing their efforts and the situation prevailing in the area. They have also held several dialogue sessions with the protesters following the direction from the apex court.
In all their meetings, the lawyers urged the protesters to find an amicable solution and lauded them for carrying out peaceful protests. They had, however, raised concerns over public inconvenience. During one such dialogue, they told the crowd that “Shaheen Bagh barkarar rahega” (Shaheen Bagh will survive) but it was necessary to ensure that others were not inconvenienced. “Nobody should be troubled. We live in this country to help one another and not trouble each other” they had said.