Srinagar
Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman Syed Ali Geelani on Friday paid tributes to the Hizb militant Manan Bashir Wani, who along with his close associate was killed in a gunfight with government forces at Shatgund, Kalamabad, Handwara in north Kashmir.
“For the last 71 years, we have seen only the brutal face of the government, lived a life of uncertainty, chaos and harassment, have only shouldered the coffins of our dear ones, seen only death and destruction all around. This gloomy situation has forced our high qualified scholars and intellectuals to take the extreme step. They prefer to be a rebellion than to live a life of slavery,” the spokesman quoted Geelani as saying.
Geelani said that “pro-freedom people will always miss the sharp, focused and fertile brains like that of Manan and these shining diamonds are unparalleled assets of any nation particularly oppressed and suppressed like us”.
“We are unfortunate that we lose them so early as their un-dented commitment and visionary intellect would help to smoothen our struggle for our rights,” Geelani said adding that arresting those who had come to condole the death of their hero is nothing but vengeance.
He also strongly condemned the “cold-blooded murder” of Hurriyat activist Tariq Ahmad Ganie, and said that “after failing to curb the pro-freedom sentiment of people, India has stooped low to take revenge by starting to target freedom loving people using the mask of ‘unknown’, thereby creating an atmosphere of fear and chaos so that people can not dare to raise their voice against violation of their fundamental rights”.
