Srinagar, February 08, 2019 (PPI-OT): In occupied Kashmir, Hurriyat leaders and organisations have paid glowing tributes to prominent Kashmiri liberation leaders, Muhammad Afzal Guru and Muhammad Maqbool Butt, on the eve of their martyrdom anniversaries. India had sent Muhammad Afzal Guru to gallows in New Delhi’s Tihar Jail on 9th of February, 2013 and Muhammad Maqbool Butt, on 11th of February, 1984 for their role in the ongoing Kashmir freedom movement. Their bodies remain buried in the premises of the jail.
The Chairman of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Jammu and Kashmir, Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai, in a statement issued in Srinagar said, “We will follow the footsteps of Maqbool Butt and Afzal Guru and their sacrifices will serve as torch bearers for freedom movement.” He reiterated the popular and just demand for returning their mortal remains from Delhi to be buried in Kashmir. He said their farcical trial and hanging in the Tihar jail of the two leaders were judicial murders as the due legal process was violated during their trial. He said that the martyrdom of Maqbool Butt and Afzal Guru was unique and exceptional as these sacrifices have infused a new life in Kashmiris’ freedom struggle. “The struggle for freedom from Indian occupation remains alive by remembering these supreme sacrifices,” he added.
Illegally detained Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Muhammad Yasin Malik, in a statement in Srinagar paying homage to Muhammad Maqbool Butt and Afzal Guru said the struggle and martyrdom of persons like Maqbool Butt and Afzal Guru is a superb chapter of Kashmir history and Kashmiris need to follow their footsteps. He said that Maqbool Butt was an ideologue, a warrior, a leader and an intellectual, who led Kashmiris on all fronts. He said on February 11, 1984, Indian rulers hanged this leader but time has proved that India failed to achieve its goal as thousands of new Maqbool’s originated from his sacred blood and came out from every Kashmiri village and town to challenge India’s illegal occupation of their homeland.
The Chairman of Tehreek-e-Muzahamat, Bilal Ahmed Siddiqi, in a statement in Srinagar said Maqbool Butt and Afzal Guru would continue to inspire generations to come. “The best tribute to them is to renew our pledge towards the cause of freedom and continue this sacred struggle till it reaches its logical conclusion,” he added.
The Patron of Jammu and Kashmir Mass Movement, Farida Bahenji, in her statement, in Srinagar paid tributes to Maqbool Butt and Afzal Guru and demanded of the Indian authorities to transfer their mortal remains to occupied Kashmir for proper burial.
The Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference, Shabbir Ahmed Dar, in a statement in Srinagar, said that Muhammad Maqbool Butt and Muhammad Afzal Guru sacrificed their lives for a sacred cause. He said that the best tribute to the martyrs would be to carry forward their mission to its logical conclusion.
The Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Young Men’s League, Imtiaz Ahmed Reshi, today, continued the signature campaign in Srinagar to return mortal remains of Maqbool Butt and Afzal Guru to Kashmir. Imtiaz Reshi said that the signature campaign was started yesterday from Sopore and it is first phase of it. People in large number participated in the signature campaign, he added.
The leaders of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front-R, Barrister Abdul Majeed Tramboo, Advocate Ayoub Rathor and Wajahat Bashir Qureshi, in a statement issued in Srinagar said Maqbool Butt, Afzal Guru and other martyrs of Kashmir laid down their lives for the honour and dignity of the common man of Kashmir.
The Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Salvation Movement, Zafar Akbar Butt, in his statement in Srinagar said that the people of Kashmir would never forget Maqbool Butt and Afzal Guru as they and other martyrs laid their lives for a sacred cause of freedom from Indian yoke.
The illegally detained Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Tanzeem Azadi, Abdul Samad Inqilabi, in his statement in Srinagar said that Maqbool Butt and Afzal Guru had rendered their lives for a great cause and their sacrifices would not be allowed to go waste.
The Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party spokesman in a statement in Srinagar paying tributes to Maqbool Butt and Afzal Guru said that the Kashmiri people would continue to demand for their political rights and shifting of the mortal remains of the two Kashmiri martyred leaders.
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