The All Parties Hurriyat Conference leaders while paying rich tributes to liberation leaders Muhammad Maqbool Butt and Muhammad Afzal Guru ahead of their martyrdom anniversaries have hailed their sacrifices for the Kashmir cause.
According to Kashmir Media Service, India had sent to gallows Muhammad Afzal Guru in New Delhi’s Tihar Jail on 9th February, 2013 and Muhammad Maqbool Butt in the same jail on 11th February, 1984. Their bodies remain buried in the premises of the jail.
Illegally detained senior APHC leaders Shabbir Ahmed Shah and Nayeem Ahmed Khan in their separate messages from New Delhi’s Tihar Jail said the history of sacrifices rendered by the people of Kashmir and their leaders for the right to self-determination is so glorious that it cannot be forgotten.
They said the Kashmiris should not lose hope with the changing times. “Whatever be the situation, we must keep up our courage and resolve and continue to pursue the vision and mission for which the sacrifices of innumerous lives and properties are being made from 1931 in general and 1947 in particular,” they added.
They urged the international community, particularly the world human rights organizations, to put pressure on India to return the mortal remains of Maqbool Butt and Afzal Guru buried in Tihar jail to their families for proper burial in occupied Kashmir.
Other APHC leaders, Advocate Arshad Iqbal, Muhammad Haseeb Wani, Ghulam Nabi War, Yasmeen Raja and Rafia Rasool in their separate statements in Srinagar said that hanging of Muhammad Maqbool Butt and Muhammad Afzal Guru was a ruthless murder. They added that the executions reinforced the point that there was no justice for Kashmiris in the Indian courts. They deplored that the Indian judiciary had miserably failed to uphold independence and impartiality while hearing the cases of Kashmiris.
The leaders said for the last over seven decades the Kashmiris have been facing the wrath of prejudice and political vengeance, adding that the shameful execution of Maqbool Butt and Afzal Guru was a big blot on the face of Indian judiciary. They expressed the hope that the day was not far when subjugated but determined people of Kashmir would see the dawn of freedom.
Meanwhile, APHC-AJK Convener, Mehmood Ahmad Saghar, and other leaders including Shaikh Abdul Mateen, Imtiyaz Ahmed Wani, Shameem Shawl, Shaikh Yaqoob, Chaudhry Shaheen Iqbal, Syed Aijaz Rehmani and Syed Gulshan Ahmed in their statements said that the two Kashmiri leaders were hanged with an unfair trial. They termed it as a clear-cut case of judicial murder. They reiterated the Kashmiris’ demand for the transfer of the mortal remains of the martyred leaders to occupied Kashmir from Tihar Jail. They said Muhammad Maqbool Butt and Muhammad Afzal Guru are heroes of the Kashmiri people.—KMS
