The All Parties Hurriyat Conference leaders strongly denouncing the ban imposed by the Narendra Modi-led Indian government on the pro-freedom organization Democratic Freedom Party in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir have termed the move as completely unjustified and illegal.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the incarcerated APHC General Secretary, Molvi Bashir Ahmed Irfani, in a message from jail and other leaders including Fayaz Hussain Jafari, Syed Sibte Shabbir Qummi and Farida Bahenji in their statements in Srinagar said India, the world’s largest so-called democracy, is violating democratic values and principles in occupied Jammu and Kashmir. They said the international community recognizes Jammu and Kashmir as a disputed territory while the UN has passed several resolutions regarding the right to self-determination of the Kashmiris. Therefore, they said, the Kashmiris’ struggle against the India’s illegal occupation of their homeland is completely legitimate and just.
The APHC leader said India’s action to suppress the Kashmir freedom movement by force and to ban freedom-loving organizations is against the international laws and principles. They said that the ban on the DFP is a manifestation of Indian cowardice. They said India should keep in mind that freedom movements cannot be crushed by repressive tactics.
The APHC’s constituent organizations, Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Political Movement, Jammu and Kashmir Freedom Front, and Jammu and Kashmir Employees Movement in a joint statement in Srinagar also denounced the ban on DFP. They urged the UN, Organization of Islamic Cooperation and European Union to stop India from banning political parties of occupied Jammu and Kashmir striving for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN resolutions.
Meanwhile, APHC-AJK leaders including Muhammad Farooq Rehmani, Ghulam Muhammad Safi, Syed Yousuf Naseem, Mir Tahir Masood, Syed Faiz Naqshbandi, Altaf Hussain Wani, Sheikh Abdul Mateen, Imtiaz Wani, Sheikh Muhammad Yaqub, Nisar Mirza, Hassan Bana, Altaf Ahmad Butt, Zahid Safi, Haji Sultan Butt, Syed Mushtaq, Adeel Mushtaq Wani, Abdul Majeed, Muhammad Ashraf Dar, Sheikh Abdul Majeed, Syed Aijaz Rehmani, Advocate Parvez Ahmed, Mushtaq Ahmad Butt, Zahid Ashraf, Gulshan Ahmed and Manzoor Ahmed Dar also condemned the ban on DFP.
The leaders said the UN Charter gives the Kashmiris the right to struggle for their birthright, the right to self-determination. They said the DFP is also fighting peacefully for the said right, so there is no justification to ban it. They said the BJP government will never succeed in its nefarious designs to suppress the Kashmir freedom movement through such tactics and the Kashmiri people will continue their struggle till complete success.—KMS
