Srinagar
In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, complete strike will be observed, tomorrow, on the expected visit of a selected European parliamentary group to the territory. The visit has been arranged by the Indian authorities.
Call for the strike has been given by the All Parties Hurriyat Conference and supported by all pro-freedom leaders and organizations to draw the attention of the international community to the urgency for resolution of the Kashmir dispute as per Kashmiris’ aspirations.
Hurriyat leaders and organizations including Professor Abdul Ghani Butt, Maulana Masroor Abbas Ansari, Shabbir Ahmad Dar, Muhammad Yousuf Naqash, Zamruda Habib, Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front in their separate statements said the EU parliamentarians’ arranged visit is a ploy to hoodwink the international community. They pointed out that the paid visit is a disgrace to the world because those who call themselves true democrats are making entertainment trips to the imprisoned paradise on earth.
Professor Abdul Ghani Butt in a media interview in Srinagar said mere visits to enjoy beauties of nature in winters or in springs neither mean anything nor serve any purpose. He said Hurriyat leadership has never hesitated in meeting any group, delegation or a personality if it is regarding resolution of Kashmir and the visiting people are open minded, purposeful and are intending to know the ground realities. He further said that Kashmir is a globally-accepted dispute and it cannot be oversighted, overruled and put behind the burner by any unilateral decision like abrogation of Articles 370 or 35A.
Meanwhile, posters with slogans like ‘WAKE UP, WAKE UP, UN-EU WAKE UP’ have appeared in Srinagar, Pulwama, Baramulla and other areas to record the Kashmiris’ protest against the expected visit by the European group. The posters displayed by Hurriyat Youth Forum Jammu and Kashmir, Warseen-e-Shuahada Jammu and Kashmir, and Youth of Kashmir were also reading slogans like “We Want Freedom” and “Kashmir seeks world attention”.
Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Jammu and Kashmir in a statement issued in Srinagar called for a complete strike on the occasion of the proposed visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Kashmir in the last week of February. The statement said that the Indian Prime Minister, as in the past, will visit occupied Jammu and Kashmir under the shadow of guns to boost the morale of his demoralized forces.
The AJK chapter of Mirwaiz led Hurriyat forum at a meeting in Islamabad rejected Indian guided and arranged foreign delegation’s visit to IIOJK. It was said that such kind of state-sponsored visits were a meaningless exercise.—KMS
