Srinagar, February 06, 2020 (PPI-OT): Acting Chairman of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Abdul Hameed Butt has paid glowing tributes to prominent Kashmiri liberation leader, Muhammad Maqbool Butt and said that he was the cornerstone of resistance against illegal occupation and symbol of freedom and liberty.
India had hanged Muhammad Maqbool Butt in New Delhi’s Tihar Jail on 11th February in 1984 and Muhammad Afzal Guru in the same jail on 9th February, 2013, for their role in the Kashmir freedom movement. Their bodies remain buried in the premises of the jail.
Abdul Hameed Butt in a statement issued in Srinagar said, Maqbool Butt’s struggle and sacrifices represent oppressed and subjugated humans prominent liberation leader, Muhammad Afzal Guru also treaded his path and sacrificed his life for the righteous cause.
He said that Muhammad Maqbool Butt was an ideologue, a warrior, a leader and an intellectual who led Kashmiris on all fronts, be it diplomatic or political front. He started as a loner and strived hard for the liberation of Kashmir from illegal occupation; perused and followed his dream with action and sacrificed his life with pride and passion at gallows.
He said, “Struggle and martyrdom of Mohammad Maqbool Butt was a glorious chapter of our history that would always guide us through the tough journey of our freedom struggle and us as a nation need to follow his footsteps and remain steadfast in our resistance against tyranny and oppression.”
The JKLF Acting Chairman said that on 11th February 1984, Indian rulers decided to hang this leader and thus stifled a Kashmiri voice for freedom on gallows in Tihar Jail, New Delhi, but time had proved that India failed to achieve the goal as thousands of new Maqbools originated from every nook and corner of Kashmir to challenge Indian hegemony and illegal occupation.
Paying glowing tributes to Muhammad Afzal Guru, who kissed gallows in same Tihar Jail on 9th February 2013, he said that he was denied a fair trial and was murdered on the pretext to satisfy the collective conscience of Indian masses. Like Maqbool Butt, Afzal Guru was also buried inside the same Tihar Jail and till date their families and Kashmiris living across the ceasefire line and abroad had been demanding the return of their mortal remains.
Announcing various programmes to be held on Maqbool’s Day this year, the JKLF acting chairman said that various protest programmes would be held across the globe on the occasion of Shaheed Mohammad Maqbool Butt’s 36th martyrdom day.
In the remembrance of these great leaders, the acting JKLF Chairman, Abdul Hameed Butt, appealed people of Kashmir to observe complete shutdown on 9th and 11th February and hold prayer meetings, protest demonstrations, rallies, seminars and conferences.
The JKLF in AJK/GB has already started a month long activities at district and tehsil headquarters, he said. Big protest demonstrations will be held on 11th February led by central and zonal party leadership. A memorandum to the UN Secretary General demanding mortal remains of Maqbool sahib and Afzal Guru will also be submitted for the UN Secretary General.
Giving details of events to be organized by JKLF, Abdul Hameed Butt said that besides a total ban on the day in Kashmir, a memorial meeting would be held at Trehgam, Kupwara, the birth place of Maqbool Butt, in which the relatives, people of the area and JKLF activists would pay rich tributes to the great martyr. Furthermore, rallies, protests, seminars and prayer meetings will also be held at every district headquarters of Azad Jammu Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan (AJK/GB) including Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore and Quetta in Pakistan.
The JKLF UK Zone has also announced to hold a big protest demonstration on 16th February outside the Indian High Commission in London wherein a large number of Kashmiri will join it. The JKLF European Union (EU) Zone will also hold a protest demonstration on 11th February in front of Indian Embassy in Brussels, Belgium. Many programmes will also be held in the EU countries like France, Finland, Spain, Germany, Italy etc. during the month of February.
The JKLF Middle East (ME) Zone has also declared month long programmes in their respective branches especially in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emarat (UAE) and Qatar. Handing over of the mortal remains of Maqbool Butt and Afzal Guru will be demanded and Maqbool Butt’s philosophy, ideology, struggle and sacrifices will be highlighted during these programmes. The struggle and sacrifices rendered by Shuhada-e-Chakoti, AJK of 1992 will also be recalled during these programmes.
It is worth to mention here that JKLF Supreme Council in a recently held meeting has decided to dedicate and attribute all such protest programmes and activities held in and outside occupied Kashmir, with the “Release Yasin Malik Campaign”, the Acting Chairman said.
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