Flays Govt for crackdown on Hurriyat (G)
Shah, Khan, Ayaz, Saifullah, Laya detained
India is at war with people who raise their voice for the rights of Kashmiri people, said Hurriyat (G) chairman, Syed Ali Geelani here Thursday. He was referring to the “witch-hunt” against the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) for questioning the execution of Afzal Guru.
Geelani issued a statement to condemn the crackdown on Hurriyat (G) leadership and reiterated the call for peaceful protests on Friday (Feb 26) and appealed people to observe complete shutdown on Saturday (Feb 27) against the harassment of Kashmiri students in Delhi following the JNU controversy and the detention of SAR Geelani.
Earlier, police detained several Hurriyat Conference (G) leaders and activists ahead of the two-day protest programme called by the conglomerate.
Hurriyat (G) General Secretary, Shabir Ahmad Shah has been lodged at Rajbagh Police station. Provincial President Nayeem Ahmad Khan, spokesman Ayaz Akbar, Personal Secretary to Geelani, Peer Saifullah and senior leader Mohammad Ashraf Laya have been put under house arrest.
Condemning the crackdown, Geelani said: “It is our democratic as well as legal right and restricting it has no justification. India is at war with the people who raise their voice for the rights of Kashmiri people and on the other hand the state administration has converted Jammu and Kashmir into a police state.”
He said the government is making the situation in the state “explosive and people are feeling suffocated”. The Hurriyat (G) chairman said New Delhi will gain nothing from its policy and it will instead only increase political uncertainty in the state.
Hurriyat (G) spokesman told Rising Kashmir that dozens of Hurriyat (G) activists were also detained by police on Thursday. He said senior member Zameer Ahmad has been detained and lodged in police station Chanpora while as another member Hafiz Mudasir Nadvi has been lodged in police station Shaheed Ganj.
“Dozens of other activists have either been placed under house arrest or detained in different police stations while as senior leaders Ghulam Ahmad Gulzar, Bilal Ahmad Siddiqi, Khan Sopori, Mohammad Ramzan Khan and Molvi Bashir Ahmad were arrested by police while they were on way to Pampore to attend the funeral prayers in absentia,” Akbar said.
The spokesperson alleged that some women members of Hurriyat (G) have also been detained.
Meanwhile, Hurriyat leaders Abdul Ahad Parra, Sayed Mohammad Shafi and Abdul Rasheed Dar participated in the funeral prayers in absentia held for the three militants killed recently in EDI, Pampore encounter.
