Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik Saturday alleged that New Delhi and its Kashmiri stooges were trying to enforce their brand of democracy through the means of fear, intimidations and promoting bribery.“Oppressive measures like arrests, intimidations, raids and restrictions are a glaring example of elections being nothing but an army and police operation that has no validity at all,” Malik said in an emailed statement.While condemning the arrest of JKLF zonal organizer Bashir Ahmad Kashmiri today Malik said, “These arrests and intimidations cannot deter JKLF from perusing the path of struggle for freedom.”Bashir Kashmiri was today arrested near Bagwanpora when he was visiting door to door asking people to boycott election. Prior to this, according to JKLF statement, he had visited Dalgate area and conducted a door to door campaign in that area too.
Another JKLF activist Hafizullah Sofi was also arrested in an early morning raid by police at his residence at HMT. “Prior to this almost whole JKLF leadership including Malik , Vice chairmen advocate Bashir Ahmad Bhat, Showkat Ahmad Bakhshi, Mushtaq Ajmal, secretary general engineer Ghulam Rasool Dar Eidi, Deputy chief organizer Siraj Ud Din Mir, Zonal president Noor Mohammad Kalwal, zonal senior vice president Mohammad Yasin Bhat, zonal press secretary Ashraf bin Salam, District president Pulwama Javed Ahmad Butt, senior activists ,Mushtaq Ahmad Wani, Ashfaq Hussain, Mohammad Aadil, Faisal Ahmad, Mushtaq Ahmad Maloora, Shakir Ahmad, Altaf Ahmad Raina, ,Mushtaq Ahmad Wani ,Abdul Hamid, Mohammad Sultan Wani ,Mohammad Akbar ,Fayaz Ahmad , Aakif Ahmad, Mudasir Ahmad ,Parvaiz Ahmad, Fayaz Ahmad, Abdul Rashid Pir, Bilal Bhmad , Mohammad Maqbool Dar, Mohammad Himayoon, Assadullah Sheikh, Mohammad Inayat Bhat, Azhar Bashir, Bashir Ahmad Sofi, Aashiq Nazir, Imran Ahmad Chakla and Wasim Ahmad Sodagar have been put behind the bars for making ongoing election drama successful,” the statement said.
Malik while condemning the “reign of terror” and spree of arrests in whole of Kashmir said, “Till now police has arrested thousands of youth along with resistance leaders and activists. This police and army operation called as elections cannot change the discourse of our struggle and a nation that has sacrificed more than 100000 lives during a just struggle cannot be fooled or defeated by these mean tactics.”
While appealing people to understand the “ill consequences of so called elections,” asked them to boycott elections. He also appealed people to stage peaceful demonstrations against elections everywhere.