Pro-Telangana lawyers hold protest at Hyderabad airport

A group of pro-Telangana lawyers today held a protest at the airport here just before the arrival of the members of Sri Krishna Committee appointed by the Centre to look into the statehood issue. 

The advocates, raising slogans like 'Srikrishna Committee go back' and 'Jai Telangana', barged into the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport premises and tried to stage a sit-in,
but were taken into custody by the police.

The lawyers last month held a massive protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi and some of them breached police restrictions and reached the Parliament.

Dubbing the appointment of the panel as "delaying tactic" by the Centre, the lawyers demanded that a bill be tabled in the Parliament immediately for the formation of Telangana.

They had held protests at the headquarters of Telugu Desam here and also 'gheraoed' senior Congress MLA K Jana Reddy for not  quitting his post to mount pressure on the Centre.

The Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC), formed to spearhead the statehood stir, called for "peaceful protests"
against the visit of the committee today and tomorrow.

"This visit is purely an introductory one. The entire committee will travel to Hyderabad and discuss with the state government officials about the facilities we need and other things," the panel's Member-Secretary Vinod K Duggal has said.