Srinagar

Senior resistance leaders Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Saturday strongly condemned the “police assault and use of derogatory language” against JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik at Khanyar when he was on way to Jamia Masjid to lead a peaceful protest.

JRL leaders staged protest at Jamia Masjid Srinagar.
Kl Image by Bilal Bahadur

Geelani and Mirwaiz in a joint statement issued here said, “Police resorted to manhandling and hooliganism against a leader who has prominence across the State for representing people’s aspirations.”

They said that police behaviour against JKLF chairman is a clear indication that Kashmir is a police state where police has been given a free hand to run its writ and highhandedness, and in such a situation, no Kashmiri is safe.

JRL said when a people’s representative like Yasin Malik is manhandled by those who claim to be law enforcers what can a common Kashmiri expect from the police.

The leaders said that Malik was on way to lead a protest called by the JRL “but his vehicle was stopped and he was dragged, physically assaulted and abused at Khanyar by a senior police officer who also spoke venomously and made derogatory remarks on Kashmir’s resistance leadership”.

“Today’s incident at Khanyar makes it clear that police is following the RSS diktats and the policy to muzzle the genuine voices in Kashmir and their aspirations,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, despite the alleged assault on JKLF chief, many JRL leaders and activists assembled outside Jamia Masjid to stage a peaceful protest against killings, use of force against students, and the “illegal” detention of dozens of resistance leaders by NIA. They raised slogans against the action by the government forces across Kashmir.

Those who participated in the protest include Gh Nabi Zaki, Sheikh Abdur Rashid, Umar Adil, Hakeem Abdur Rashid, Abdur Rashid Untoo, Gh Nabi Najar, Mushtaq Ah Sufi, Muhammad Shafi Khan, Muhammad Saleem Zargar,  Muhammad Yousuf Naqash, Muhammad Yousuf Attai, Jaffar Kashmiri, Sahil War, Zahoor Ah Bhat, Prof Qudus, Muhammad Sidiq Hazar, Farooq Ahmed Sheikh and others.

The protestors strongly denounced the huge deployment of forces around educational institutions and use of pellets, tear gas and pava shells against peaceful protesting students across Kashmir. They said government forces have choked every space for the peaceful protest and a military approach was followed to force the people into a submission.

“Youth are pushed to the wall due to the iron fist policy of the ruling regime which is highly condemnable,” the statement said.

The protestors while terming the arrests made by NIA and ED as totally unjustified demanded the immediate release of Shabir Shah, Altaf Fantosh, Advocate Shahidul Islam, Ayaz Akbar, Peer Saifullah,  Mehrajudin Kalwal, Shahid Yousuf, Farooq Dar, Nayeem Khan, Zahoor Watali, and said the detention of these leaders is “illegal” and that they should be released forthwith.

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