Srinagar, January 19, 2018 (PPI-OT):In occupied Kashmir, the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) comprising Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik, has said that the Indian army chief, General Bipin Rawat’s recent statement on Kashmir is admission of the fact that Kashmir is under illegal occupation of India.
The resistance leaders addressing a press conference at the Nigeen residence of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said that Kashmir movement was love and worship for them and no matter how far New Delhi could go in building pressure on the resistance leadership, there was no question of surrender. They also trashed the chargesheet presented by India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) against several Kashmiris including Hurriyat leaders.
The Indian army chief on Wednesday stated that people of Kashmir cannot achieve freedom from India because of its military might. Syed Ali Gilani, who is under continued house arrest since 2010, addressing the presser on phone from his Hyderpora residence said General Rawat has tried to equate the Kashmiris’ peaceful struggle with terrorism. He said the resistance against India is being carried out through peaceful means because the people of Jammu and Kashmir believe that the issue can only be resolved peacefully and not militarily.
“We have no grudge against India as a country and neither its people. We always wish them good. The real fight of people of Kashmir is against Delhi’s forcible rule through its military deployment in Kashmir. The Kashmiri people and the resistance leadership are not carrying guns or bombs in their hands as their struggle is peaceful and purely indigenous in nature. So linking our peaceful struggle with terrorism is nothing but a ploy to justify bloodshed and massacre of people of Kashmir, including that of the pro-freedom leadership,” he stated.
“We want to remind the Indian army chief that we are demanding our right which has been promised by none other than the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru,” he added. On the chargesheet filed by the NIA against the Kashmiris, Syed Ali Gilani pointed out that all the charges and witnesses are false and fake. “None of those lodged in Tihar Jail and arrested by the NIA has any criminal record. They have nothing to do with funding case. We demand their unconditional release,” he said.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in his address said, “The Indian army chief’s statement is actually a confession of what people of Kashmir want and how military force will be used to prevent them from doing so. This is an open admission of forcible control.” He said that it was clear that New Delhi wanted to deal with Kashmir issue militarily. “But we won’t bow before them, because the idea of freedom for us is stronger and sacred than the might of the Indian state,” he said.
The Mirwaiz maintained that the effort to align the Kashmiris’ struggle for right to self-determination with terrorism is propaganda to distort the facts and mislead people of India and aboard. “Kashmir is an internationally-acknowledged dispute. It is a humanitarian problem, a tragedy where a temporary line is dividing families and friends. There are resolutions pending regarding our future to be decided through right to self-determination,” he said, adding that it was Nehru who proposed referendum as a solution to the Kashmir dispute.
The Mirwaiz also said that the chargesheet filed by the NIA against Kashmiri Hurriyat leaders has been kept open which indicated that more and more people would be included in the list in future to mount pressure on the resistance leadership.
Muhammad Yasin Malik in his address said Indian army chief’s statement shows that Kashmir affairs are being run by the military and not by the civilian government. “This shows nothing has changed in Kashmir…… We are determined, because azadi is our love and a kind of worship for us and no matter how repressive measures India will use to force us into submission, there was no question of surrender,” he said. Yasin Malik deplored that New Delhi was trying to link the Kashmiris’ indigenous struggle with terrorism to justify killings in occupied Kashmir.
On the chargesheet filed by the NIA against the pro-freedom leaders, he said it is only a tactic to browbeat the leadership, which is never going to happen. He said the chargesheet carries no evidence that the 2016 uprising was instigated by Pakistan or funded by it. “In the chargesheet, NIA, on flimsy grounds, has said that the uprising was funded by Pakistan, which is far away from the truth. It happened because the martyr Burhan Wani was killed by the Indian forces and people gathered at his funeral and then the Indian forces fired bullets on them, killing dozens of civilians on daily basis. This was responded to by massive protests,” he said.
“Gilani sahab, Mirwaiz sahab and I then spearheaded the uprising. Unfortunately, the NIA has not made any of us part of the chargesheet but booked many of those who were behind bars during the uprising. They have also kept the chargesheet open, which is pressure tactic. Let me tell them we are not scared and would be proud even if we are killed,” he added. The resistance leaders also called for complete shutdown on January 26, the Indian Republic Day, in occupied Kashmir to send a strong message to New Delhi that the Kashmiris rejected its illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir.
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