Chairman Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Wednesday defied his “illegal” house arrest to lead a march towards Shopian but police prevented him and dozens of activists from moving ahead, spokesperson of the amalgam said.Before his arrest, Mirwaiz while addressing the media present outside his residence expressed deep anguish and strong condemnation at the “massacre” in Pahnoo Shopian. He reiterated that as long as New Delhi pursues a hard line military solution to the Kashmir dispute and provides its armed forces a legal cover of immunity from accountability and prosecution by draconian laws like the AFSPA bloodshed of Kashmiris will continue unabated.“Under this law, the unbridled powers that the forces enjoy, entire valley has been witnessing repeated mayhem and massacres in which people including teenage children and women become targets as streets are turned red with blood,” Mirwaiz said in a statement issued to GNS.As long as there is not a shift in New Delhi’ approach in dealing with the Kashmir issue, these black laws like AFSPA, PSA, Disturbed Areas Act will continue to be there and will keep extracting a huge cost of life and limb from Kashmiris, as we are witnessing each day,” he added.“It is time that the collaborators in this policy of repression and terror unleashed upon Kashmiris, Mehbooba Mufti and her ilk, should at least stop lying to the people through their glib talk of so called inquiries, commissions, courts, justice, logical conclusions and so on, as there is no hope of any such thing for Kashmiris, in the system they represent,” Hurriyat (M) chairman added.
Mirwaiz said the “so-called” head of the state Mehbooba Mufti should make a speech in the Assembly and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the parliament that Kashmiris should not expect any sort of justice from the legal system in place and that for them, doors of justice stand closed.He said in such a grave situation, the people of Kashmir can only pin their hopes on world human rights bodies and organizations to highlight our plight and help us get justice.“If the collaborators do not stop this genocide of Kashmiris at the hands of forces and keep pushing people to the wall people will have no option but to hit the streets as in 2008 and 2016,” he warned.Mirwaiz strongly criticized the state government for shifting prisoners including Dr Muhammad Qasim Faktoo and Dr Muhammad Shafi Shariati besides dozens of others from Central Jail Srinagar to various prisons in Jammu stating that the ruling dispensation has no respect for the ruling of its own High Court and that the move to shift prisoners is purely a revenge upon them.He also expressed serious concern over the plight of dozens of resistance leaders and Kashmiri prisoners booked by NIA under “fictitious” charges stating that it is condemnable that these prisoners are deprived from basic facilities including medical aid.Meanwhile, the spokesperson strongly condemned the imposition of curbs in many parts of Srinagar and Shopian district not allowing leadership and people to go to Shopian and also the sealing of APHC headquarters in RajBagh and Awami Action Committee headquarters at Mirwaiz Manzil Rajouri Kadal Srinagar. (GNS)