Hurriyat Conference (M) Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq Friday said Government of India (GoI) cannot alter the “disputed status of Kashmir” by using judiciary, executive, armed forces or the Parliament.
Addressing a Friday congregation at Jamia Masjid in Srinagar, the Mirwaiz while referring to Article 35-A case in the Supreme Court (SC) said the Indian constitution itself had guaranteed certain special rights to the people of the State till a referendum was conducted.
Referring to the statement of the National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval, the Mirwaiz said he had removed all masks and brought the real face of the GoI before the people of Jammu Kashmir and the entire world.
The Hurriyat Conference (M) Chairman said Doval had made it abundantly clear that for GoI the ultimate aim had always been to hold on to the territory of Jammu Kashmir at any cost with utter disregard for the will of its inhabitants.
“And this government believes in achieving that by complete integration of Jammu Kashmir with the Union of India by doing away with any and every provision that its own constitution had provided to the disputed state till the holding of a plebiscite that its own head of the state had committed to the world,” he said.
The Mirwaiz termed “the change in the demography by removing state subject laws” as being part of the “integration plan”.
“The impatience to execute this design can be seen by the NSA statement challenging every law and constitutional provision enshrined in the Indian constitution till the matter was to be decided by the people of Jammu Kashmir through referendum, by calling them aberrations that had to be done away with,” the Mirwaiz said. “It shows arrogance and a complete disregard for historical facts and ground realities about Jammu Kashmir, its disputed status and the will of its people held by forcible control through military might.”
Terming Jammu Kashmir a disputed, political and human problem, the Mirwaiz said, “This is not a hidden agenda of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh only but the GoI is explicitly following it.”
He said the United Nations resolutions on Kashmir are a reality and the Kashmir issue is alive and kicking.
The Mirwaiz said GoI must understand that either they should implement the UN resolutions or talk with Pakistan and the people of Jammu Kashmir.
He said Kashmiri people cannot be fooled by elections to municipalities or Panchayats as such things had been used since 1947 to “trap” the people.
Stressing that J&K was a human issue, he said, “Jammu Kashmir was and is a dispute. It is about the relentless struggle of the people who want to ascertain their identity as a nation through a right to choose their destiny as both India and Pakistan did when they got that opportunity in 1947.”
The Mirwaiz said people of J&K were struggling for that opportunity although it was promised to them and the world was witness to it as it stands endorsed at the United Nations.
“How can any nation, in this case India, go back on its word, its commitment and call it dated? Is there an expiry date to the commitment,” the Mirwaiz said. “The passage of time doesn’t alter its relevance.”
He said if it were so today then why would the third and the fourth generations of Kashmiris since 1947 be rebellious, protesting on the streets and alleys of every nook and corner of the State, and getting mercilessly killed since 1988.
“And India would not need lakhs of its forces to exert its control and run its writ. There will be no grave human rights violations happening here as reported by world media and international rights organisations including the UN,” the Mirwaiz said. “Coercion repression and arrogance of might is no way to deal with aspirations of a people, especially when people feel that their aspirations are backed by commitments and based on principles of justice.”
He said the only way forward was to understand the concerns and aspirations of the people of Jammu Kashmir and address them accordingly either by giving them their right of self-determination or through dialogue with the stakeholders – India, Pakistan and the people of Jammu Kashmir.
“To those who advocate coercion and deception, I say truth always prevails,” the Mirwaiz said.
GoI can’t alter Kashmir Dispute by using judiciary: Mirwaiz Umar Farooq
