Addresses gathering at Jamia after seven weeks; Says students forced to take to roads because of choked spaces
Chairman Hurriyat Conference (M) Mirwaiz Umar Farooq Friday asked New Delhi to read the “loud message” of Kashmiri students who have been forced to hit the streets to demand freedom from the “forcible control” after the state government choked all spaces for peaceful demonstrations.
“Young boys and girls who are Kashmir’s fourth generation after 1947 are taking to streets now. They don’t demand jobs, packages or any other basic amenity but hitting the roads with a clear message of what they want,” Mirwaiz told a gathering at the historic Jamia Masjid in old Srinagar.
He was allowed to address the Friday gathering at Jamia after a gap of seven weeks during which the government confined him to his home.
He said the students including college and university going girls are protesting on roads now as authorities in Kashmir have choked all spaces for peaceful demonstrations.
“Our students were asked not to be part of seminars, peaceful protests, discussions within colleges or university premises. And today they are taking to roads with a clear message that they want freedom from the forcible rule,” said Mirwaiz.
“Spontaneous mass student protests and agitation across the valley makes it clear that every section and segment of the Kashmir society is actively connected with the sentiment. This sentiment has got embedded in our collective consciousness as a nation and drives us especially our youth to break free from the yoke of occupation,” he added.
He said the J&K government knows only one language—to muzzle the genuine voices through military might.
“It is because of these tactics that today people’s anger is visible on streets in Srinagar, north and South Kashmir. Kashmir’s every lane and inch is displaying anger against the forcible control of Delhi on Kashmir,” Mirwaiz said.
He said student protests were a “loud and clear” message to New Delhi that no matter how much military power “it will use in Kashmir to suppress the movement, people will continue to demand their birth right.”
Asking New Delhi for how long it will crush civil liberties of people, Mirwaiz said, “It is high time New Delhi accept the ground realities in Kashmir. It must initiate a serious dialogue on the Kashmir issue by involving Kashmiris and Pakistan, which is party to the issue.”
“It is time that the leadership of Delhi recognizes the fact and confronts the reality in an imaginative way rather than taking refuge in the often repeated self-deceptive statements and phraseology.”
Mirwaiz said that three former Army chiefs in their recent statements on Kashmir situation have made it clear that “Kashmir was a political issue and can’t be handled militarily for long.”
“But unfortunately, the government of India continues to adopt its rigid approach and wants to crush the genuine voices through military might with the help of draconian laws like AFSPA and PSA. At times, Delhi states Kashmir is a governance issue, the issue of road, water and power and these statements were made to befool the world community,” he said.
The Hurriyat Conference (M) chairman said that despite caging the entire Hurriyat leadership for months and years together, the “government couldn’t ensure normalcy.”
“Today, I am meeting you after seven weeks. Authorities barred me from attending religious, social, and political activities and confined me to house. In 2016, I was caged for six months—two months in jail and four months in house,” he said.
“Syed Ali Geelani remains under house arrest while Muhammad Yasin Malik often lands in Central Jail Srinagar. Hurriyat activists are lodged in Kotbalwal, Central Jail and even Rajashtan jails.”
He said even there was no space for prisoners in jails as “arrest spree of police touched all limits” but failed to break the resolve of Kashmiris, who remained steadfast despite the “worst form of suppression.”
He said much blood of innocent Kashmiris has flowed down the Jhelum and people of Kashmir are not happy over the deaths of soldiers either.
“The dance of death can only stop if Delhi looks beyond selling electoral dividends and its status quoist rant,” Mirwaiz said.
“To end bloodshed in Kashmir and establish real peace in the region, Delhi has to behave as a genuine and mature democracy. It has to seriously and sincerely engage with the people of Kashmir taking into account their political will and aspirations and simultaneously start a process of engagement with Pakistan and Kashmiris.”
Mirwaiz also raised pro-freedom slogans, which reverberated in the grand mosque.
