The Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik has slammed government forces for the killing of three civilians including a teenage girl in Redwani Kulgam on Saturday morning and injuring of dozens of people.The leadership while reiterating the shutdown call tomorrow, July 8, said it will also be observed as a “black day” against the Kulgam killings.Geelani, Mirwaiz and Malik also urged people to offer funeral prayers in absentia for those killed in Kulgam and observe a blackout after 8 pm tomorrow against this continued bloodbath.In a statement issued to GNS, JRL said, “Firing live bullets on civilians in order to kill them reflects the policy of Government of India to crush all dissent with use of absolute force and might. It becomes clear that a green signal has been given to Indian armed forces to wipe off all Kashmiris without any distinction of being armed or unarmed.”“All those who raise their voice against occupation or protest it will be dealt with firmly by eliminating them with absolute impunity is the message that is being given to the people of Kashmir by such barbaric killings. The aim is to instil fear among Kashmiris and show them the ruthlessness with which they will be dealt,” the leader said.
JRL said that killing Kashmiris will not stop them from demanding their basic right to self-determination, nor will the incarceration, torture and harassment.“The Government of India should stop treating Kashmir as a colony whose territory it wants to hold on to at all costs, doing with it as it wills irrespective of the consequences on the people of Kashmir who are being made to suffer,” JRL said, adding that the people of Kashmir have shown that they will never give in to fear and repression nor will they be cowed down by India’s militaristic might.“The people of Kashmir are peaceful and want to peacefully resolve the dispute as per internationally accepted norms of conflict resolution. The GoI has to understand that it cannot hold on to Kashmir or force Kashmiris into submission by use of absolute force forever without grave consequences for the region and itself,” the leadership said.Terming the present political situation in Kashmir as catastrophic, JRL urged the international community to take note of the “worst human rights violations” and “ultimate oppression being perpetrated here”.The leadership also denounced the fresh wave of CASO across south Kashmir including Pulwama, Pampore, Shopian, Kulgam, Tral and Awantipora and “harassment, arresting and torture of youth and people of all ages, and vandalizing property worth lakhs”, stating that “these measures are nothing but a political vendetta aimed at breaking the resolve of people”. (GNS)