The pro-freedom leader and chairman of Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) Shabir Ahmad Shah on Friday addressed a public gathering in Tral area of south Kashmir district. This is Shah’s first public address since he was arrested in July last year.While reaching Tral, Shah received a warm welcome from people, and in his address, the pro-freedom leader said he is “very delighted to address the people of that area which gave birth to the great martyr and son of the soil – Shaheed Burhan Wani”.“We’ll continue to nourish the freedom movement despite imposition of curbs and use of every kind of suppressive measures against us by puppet authorities. Today, we reiterate our pledge of pursuing the mission of martyrs till the goal of freedom is achieved. I have always hailed the people of Tral for their unrelenting ‘Jazba-e-Azadi’ (freedom spirit) and hope they continue with the same spirit,” he added.Commenting on sacrifices offered by people of Tral during the 2016 anti-India uprising, Shah said, “We saw each and every bit of state-sponsored terrorism unleashed upon people. The very people who perpetrated the oppression are shamelessly begging you for votes. Keeping in view the blood of our martyrs, we must boycott the parliamentary, assembly, and panchayati elections.”
Shah said the sacrifices of our 2016 martyrs haven’t gone waste as the world listened to our voice. He also hailed Pakistan for its continuous “political, moral, and diplomatic support to our cause” saying the country is “our sincere friend and well-wisher”. “We thank the political, military, religious leadership of Pakistan for supporting our cause and hope they will continue to do so in future,” he said.Shah saluted the courage of political prisoners saying they are languishing for standing for a great cause. He appealed the world leadership to take notice of the plight of political prisoners of Jammu Kashmir and use offices in securing their release.“The political prisoners are subjected to very inhuman treatment and there is clear violation of the UN charter that has laid guidelines of dealing with the political prisoners,” he said.In his address, Shah strongly denounced Indian agencies for “sowing the seeds of sectarianism’ in Kashmir saying “conspiracies are being hatched to divide us in the name of caste, creed, colour, and religion and we need to remain vigilant of such forces”.
“Conspiracies to change the demography and affect the Kashmir issue are being hatched by pro-India elements under the garb of Sainik and Pandit colonies, granting domicile certificates to migrants,” he said.Shah reiterated his stand that Pandits are welcome but in their native places not in “Israeli-type” separate clusters.After addressing people, Shah led a procession to martyrs’ graveyard where he offered Fateha prayers to all martyrs including Shaheed Burhan Wani. He also met Shaheed Burhan’s family and offered condolence with them.Expressing serious concern over the continuous house detention of APHC chairman Syed Ali Geelani, Shabir Ahmad Shah said, “By arresting Geelani Sahib, the state administration has arrested the voice of the people of Jammu Kashmir.” (CNS)