Srinagar, May 08, 2018 (PPI-OT): In occupied Kashmir, the Chairman of Hurriyat forum, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has said that the Kashmir issue has never been about roads, development and jobs, but it is a human and political issue that needs to be resolved as per the wishes of the Kashmiri people by allowing them to exercise their right to self-determination.
Talking to media men outside his Nigeen residence in Srinagar before being detained by the Indian police, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said that the puppet regime led by Mehbooba Mufti was acting like a pawn and rubber stamp of New Delhi. He said that pro-India leaders were killing the Kashmiris to hold on to the power. “Apparently Mehbooba Mufti is the Chief Minister of Kashmir but the fact is that she and her entire team are working on the directions of New Delhi,” he said.
“To stay in power these people have pawned their conscience to their masters in New Delhi. They are watching like deaf and dumb the dance of death happening in Kashmir villages every day,” the Mirwaiz said. He said that recently Mehbooba Mufti’s brother Tasaduq Mufti had admitted to being “partners in crime”. “We want to tell them that they are not simply partners in crime but partners in genocide of Kashmiris also,” he added.
The Mirwaiz pointed out that India by its policy of extreme repression was pushing Kashmiris’ next generation to the wall, forcing them to pick up arms and the intellectuals and scholars like Dr Muhammad Rafi feel forced to take this path.
“It seems New Delhi wants to convert Kashmir into Afghanistan where children and youth from each home take to arms,” he said, adding that the Hurriyat leadership believes that it is a well thought-out plan to force the Kashmiris to resort to armed and violent means of resistance so that by labelling them as ‘terrorists’, Indian forces can commit massacres.
The Mirwaiz said that occupied Kashmir was witnessing the height of repression as all limits of atrocities have been crossed. “People are craving for justice but all doors of justice have been closed on them. Kashmiris especially youth who are our future are being targeted. In fact they are being hounded by the troops who are armed with unbridled powers under AFSPA and bear no accountability for killing,” he said.
“Operation All-Out is a declaration of war against people of Kashmir and South Kashmir is bearing the biggest brunt of it where almost each day youth are brazenly killed and critically injured. There seems to be no end to it,” the Mirwaiz said. He said that in Sunday’s massacre, all those killed and injured have been hit by live ammunition above their waist with an intention to kill.
He deplored the silence of civil society groups in India over the killing of innocent people by the Indian troops in occupied Kashmir. “Where are the champions of human rights, the intellectuals, civil society activists of India? Why have they adopted silence now?
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