KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
With slight amendment of the Friday’s joint program of the united resistance leadership, All Parties Hurriyat Conference (g) chairperson, Syed Ali Geelani on Thursday appealed people to jointly offer Friday prayers at Aripanthan Budgam and pay homage to four people “martyred” on last Tuesday.
“Our visit and joint prayers are to acknowledge the sacrifices of people for the Right to Self Determination,” Hurriyat patriarch said in a statement issued early this evening.
Geelani while elaborating the Aripanthan incident, he said, “SHO police station Magam, Aftab Ahmad, was leading from the front the night raids on this locality and was in search of youths who were participating in recent protests.”
“They started barging and smashing everything coming their way and beating the inmates throughout the night. Next morning, the local people were up in arms against this high headedness and atrocities of police and other forces,” he said, “as the CRPF vehicles were passing by, some youths started pelting stones and in response to this, forces started indiscriminate firing, killing four youths on the spot and injuring several others.”
The ailing octogenarian Geelani further said, “for the last one and a half-month, 72 killings and besieging the entire population has turned the valley into a big slaughter house, where people especially youth are martyred on daily basis.”
“We can’t sit idle and watch this carnage going on and on without any pause, but will fight this brutality at every front,’ he said.
Strongly condemning the cold blooded murder of 30-year-old lecturer Shabir Ahmad Mango of Khrew, Geelani said, “police and SOG have started new tactics of harassing people. They enter Masjids and announce about the protests, when people come out they smash their houses and beat them to pulp.”
In a similar incident like this, he said, police and forces ransacked the locality of Khrew, barging into houses, beating inmates and dragging this innocent youth from his house, frisking him away at 11:00 pm and handing over his dead body at 1:00 am.
“This is the worst kind of barbarism and brutality a human being can be subjected to,” he said, “this new definition of Indian ‘democracy’ should be a harsh slap on the face of those who still think Kashmir to be the integral part of India.”
“Warning India and its local agents,” the statement quoting Geelani said, “the time has come to confront your aggression at every front as this is the definite and deciding phase of our struggle.”
Commenting on the reports that the Amnesty International is closing down its offices and suspending its activities in India after threats from extremists, Geelani said, “it is unfortunate that majority of the people of India are driven away by these fascist forces with sick mentality who can’t even tolerate Human Rights Organizations. This is a big blot on the already mutated face of so-called Indian democracy.”
