Democratic Liberation Party (DLP) Saturday staged a protest here in Press Enclave Srinagar demanding return of mortal remains of JKLF co founder Muhammad Maqbool Bhat who was hanged in Indian Tihar Jail in 1984. Scores of DLP activists led by Bashir Ahmed Lone carrying placards and banners raised for freedom slogans and denounced Indian action of not returning the mortal remains of Bhat even after the expiry of 33 years.Eyewitnesses told CNS that police swung into action and prevented protesters from marching towards city centre Lal Chowk. Dozens of protesters were bundled into police vans and detained at police station Kothibagh. The detainees included Muhammad Iqbal Qureshi, Bashir Ahmed Lone, Abdul Majid Ganderbali, Ghulam Hasan, Abdul Majid Lone, Gulzar Ahmed Shah and Muhammad Ayoub Saidpori.Meanwhile, paying rich tribute to his lifelong friend and confidant Muhammad Maqbool Bhat, Democratic Liberation Party Chairman Hashim Qureshi said that Bhat was deadly secular who found no difference between India and Pakistan. “He was neither the enemy of India nor Pakistan but was an ardent advocate of Independent Kashmir.
For him both Pakistan and India were the occupiers of two parts of Kashmir,” Qureshi told Srinagar based news agency CNS adding that to equate Bhat with others and the present day separatist leaders will be injustice towards him.Qureshi said that Bhat suffered heavily just to see his Kashmir free from the clutches of both India and Pakistan. “Both India and Pakistan tortured him. He found no difference between India’s Tihar Jail and Pakistan’s Shahi Qilah where he was physically and mentally tortured and forced to shun the ideology of an Independent Kashmir,” he said.He said that Maqbool Bhat never compromised with his principles. “Over three decades after his execution, people in Kashmir realized the essence and importance of this son of soil,” he said adding that Maqbool Bhat was only leader who left misery and poverty for his family. “Kashmir was dare to him and he always wished to see it free from the occupation of India and Pakistan,” he said.Hashim Qureshi castigated separatist leaders for failing to deliver the goods. “These leaders talk of independence but change their stance once they meet Pakistan establishment. The present day separatists are not like Maqbool Bhat who sacrificed himself and his family for Independent Kashmir Cause,” he said. (CNS)