Chairman of his faction of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq today threatened mass mass agitation in response to the alleged government atrocities including imposition of curfews, arrests and use of pepper gas against the people in Valley and said a joint strategy would chalked out in a meeting of all sections of society including pro-freedom organizations and trade bodies.Addressing a press conrence here, the Mirwaiz said the government by placing restrictions on the movement of people in Kashmir in general and Srinagar’s old city areas in particular on routine basis, is a worst example of politics of revenge, vendetta, and autocracy.
He said for devising a joint strategy to counter the government’s crackdown on the people in general and those of Old City in particular, the conglomerate is organizing a meeting onNovember 18 Wednesday at 10:30 am at the Mirwaiz Manzil here in Rajouri Kadal which would be attended by various representatives of resistance groups of Jammu Kashmir, Imams, Ulemas, trade bodies, lawyers, scholars, students association representatives, transporters and respected citizens.Besides organizing the said meeting, the APHC Chairman has also appealed the people in general to contribute through social media in devising alternate ways of protest against the government when it places such curbs and restrictions on their movement.
“The authorities were using excessive force to cow down the people of Kashmir and the State has been converted into a Police State and left people at the mercy of the Indian forces,” he alleged. Mirwaiz said the curbs imposed on the movement of the resistance leadership and the people, particularly in the jurisdiction of the seven police stations of Shehar-e-Khas, on every other pretext is condemnable.Paying tributes to the people of Kashmir for following the programmes of the resistance leaderships, he said the amalgam is aware of the hardships they face under a “well planned conspiracy” of Government of India and the “so-called state government against the people of Kashmir who are pursuing the resistance movement”.“In reality they are being punished for being pro-resistance and for fighting for their right to self-determination. Due to curbs on movement of the civilians, they are not even able to get essential commodities while their businesses too are made to suffer, resulting in their economic deprivation,” he said, adding: “this is being done to keep them economically deprived and dependent so that they lose focus from the resistance movement.”
He said the state government instead of solving the problems of the people had itself become a big problem for the people of Kashmir. “We are virtually living under a dictatorship. On the one hand it makes hollow declarations of Economic packages and on the other hand, it has given forces a free hand to hold people at gun point,” he said, and rejected the financial packages. He said Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and other black laws are being used to cow down the people and suppress them in such a way that they are not even allowed to participate in the funeral prayers and express sympathy with their loved ones who are killed by the Indian forces.“The oppression and suppression is at all time high in Jammu Kashmir and it seems that this government has assumed power to push forward Hindutva agenda in the state. Whenever people raise voice, they are dealt with pepper gas and tear gas canister, which release deadly chemicals and become dangerous for the health of the people particularly the aged and children,” he said, adding that the people in Old City complain of severe health hazardous due to use of pepper gas.
The Mirwaiz said curbing the religious, political and social activities of the resistance leaders was a state policy now and human rights violations were at an all-time high.The APHC Chairman said Gowhar Nazir Dar’s killing was not an isolated case but a routine, which drives home a point that in Kashmir lakhs of Indian forces have been deployed not to curb militancy but to suppress the voice of the people. “The day PDP and BJP coalition assumed power in Jammu Kashmir, it seems that a war has been declared against the Kashmiris at the government level,” he said. The Mirwaiz said the house arrests of the resistance leadership, arrests of youth and aggression on unarmed civilians, use of pepper gas, tear smoke canisters and target killings is a matter of grave concern for the resistance leadership and promised that the resistance leadership would not sit silent over it.He said the pro-India parties that are not in government now but in the opposition too had the same anti-Kashmir policy when they themselves were in power. “Kashmir is not a law and order or a border issue and not only an economic issue but a human and a political problem, which can only be resolved through a political solution,” he said.
He said it is unfortunate that the government of India’s leadership has adopted a negative and aggressive approach towards the Kashmir issue and completely ignores the historical background, political aspect and situation of the ground regarding this issue.The Mirwaiz said Narendra Modi led-government is suffering from the arrogance of power on Kashmir issue and instead of approaching the issue through dialogue is trying to push the issue under the carpet by using its military might and oppressive and suppressive tactics.He said all these things would be discussed threadbare during the Wednesday (November 18) meeting so as to devise a joint strategy to confront this situation. (GNS)