Srinagar, March 12, 2019 (PPI-OT): In occupied Kashmir, the Chairman of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Gilani has condemned the summoning of his younger son, Syed Naseem Gilani, by India’s National Investigation Agency in the name of questioning saying that Indian agencies are harassing and intimidating his family members to pressurise him.
Syed Ali Gilani in a statement issued in Srinagar said, “We have explained our point of view in closed doors as well as in public. Hatred and witch-hunt against Kashmiris are at their peak outside Kashmir and most Kashmiris have been threatened, tortured and dragged out of their residences, educational institutions and hostels, forcing many of them to return home after leaving their studies and businesses.”
“In such a charged atmosphere, common Kashmiri feels unsafe and relatives of pro-freedom people will surely be targeted. In such a disturbing atmosphere, we can’t afford to risk the life of anybody travelling out of the Valley,” the statement said.
The statement came two days after Dr Naseem Gilani was summoned by the NIA to its court in New Delhi in a fake case registered against him in 2017.
“If questioning anybody, including my son, is a must, they (NIA) can do so in the Valley,” Syed Ali Gilani said, adding that Indian rulers and agencies had stooped to the lowest levels of moral and ethical bankruptcy. “Delhi rulers and their agencies harass and intimidate my family just to pressurize me, but these cowardly acts will yield nothing. In 2017 also, when the ghost of NIA threatened every freedom-loving person, particularly their families including common people and businessman, we voluntarily offered ourselves to be questioned by the investigating agency, but very cunningly the authorities didn’t dare to face us,” the statement said.
“If Delhi treats us as law-breakers and want to clarify its doubts, I once again offer myself for such questioning. My past more than 50-year political career stands testimony to the fact that all the agencies, overt or covert, are well aware of my political stand,” he added.
“I have been facing atrocities, curbs, jails, interrogation by Indian agencies for the last seven decades and how can they even think of any compromise by me using such means and childish methods of threatening and humiliating my children,” the APHC Chairman said. “I have consciously and willingly adopted this torturous and thorny path of perusing the movement for the basic and fundamental rights of my people. No power on earth can deter me from this holy mission,” he said, adding, “Such maneuvering, much hyped-drama and sensational media narratives may have electoral dividends for the ruling class, but can never help their stay for too long.”
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