‘Jamia Masjid will continue to represent aspirations of Kashmiris’
Day after Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti blamed clergy for “selectively raking up controversies”, the Hurriyat Conference (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said the amalgam won’t allow Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to “hand over Kashmir to RSS on a platter.” He also said the historic Jamia Masjid platform will continue to represent aspirations of people of Kashmir.
Addressing a function here, Mirwaiz reiterated that joint resistance against setting up of Sainik Colony, separate townships for Kashmiri Pandits, permanent settlement of refugees and anti-Kashmir New Industrial Policy would continue despite the government crackdown on the resistance leadership
“They think they will hand over Kashmir to RSS, but we will not allow it to happen,” Mirwaiz said, addressing a function to mark the 49th death anniversary of MirwaizMoulvi Yusuf Shah at Aali Masjid here.
He said Jamia Masjid is witness to raising of voice for religious, political, economic and social rights and interests of people of Kashmir. “It would continue to do so in future and the religious leadership of Kashmir will never remain silent on the problems of the people,” he said.
Reacting to Chief Minister’s statement that “religious clergy should maintain silence” over public issues, Mirwaiz said: “People who give these statements are either unaware of the ground realities or unable to look into the realities due to their arrogance of power.”
These people talk of representing the masses while in reality they have sold the resources of people like water, power projects, forests and other natural resources for fulfilling their own selfish interests, he said.
He said people in JK Assembly are “strengthening the occupation” and “do not care for rights and interests of people of Kashmir.”
“In the so-called Assembly where the legislators claim to be the representatives of people, actually work (is done) to further the agenda of New Delhi while completely ignoring the rights and interests of people of Kashmir,” he said. “This is the reason why people of Kashmir are caught in deep political, economic and social crisis.”
The Hurriyat (M) chairman said these so-called representatives do not remember people at the time of natural disasters, restrictions during curfews, and ignore their suffering during inflation, black-marketing and hoarding.
“These people even abandoned the masses during the September-2014 devastating floods when the entire government vanished from the ground,” he said.
He said it is the religious institutions and leadership that came forward at that time and helped the flood-hit people.
“Before pointing fingers at others, these people should take stock of their own lives and understand the miseries and oppression they have subjected the people of Kashmir to since 1947. Even today when the masses protest against the anti-people policies, they are dealt with bullets, detentions, restrictions, harassment and arrests,” he said.
Mirwaiz said: “By using force and oppression, the people’s movements have neither been crushed in the past nor would they be able to do so in future and Kashmir issue would be resolved as per the wishes and aspirations of the people of Kashmir.”
Mirwaiz said the senior resistance leaders Syed Ali Geelani and Muhammad Yasin Malik were also invited to participate in this event but could not make it due to the house arrest of Geelani Sahib and detention of Malik. However he said Ayaz Akbar and advocate Bashir Ahmad Bhat represented them respectively.
