Incarcerated senior leader of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Shabbir Ahmed Shah, has said that Jammu and Kashmir has never been a part of India and thus no act of Indian Parliament, no piece of legislation or any judicial order about the territory has any moral and legal standing.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Shabbir Ahmed Shah in his message from New Delhi’s infamous Tihar Jail while referring to the promises made by Indian leaders with the people of Kashmir from time to time said that the Indian Supreme Court’s recent verdict that validated the 05 August 2019 illegal action of the Modi government was yet another big betrayal to the Kashmiris. He said that the Indian courts have miserably failed to do justice with the people of Kashmir.
“The Indian judiciary has a history of being biased against Kashmiris,” he said, adding that execution of Shaheed Maqbool Butt and then judicial murder of Shaheed Afzal Guru in a sham trial serve as the worst examples of prejudice and injustice.
Shabbir Shah said the Indian apex court’s verdict was a non-issue for the Kashmiris as they believe that Kashmir is a disputed territory that was illegally and forcibly occupied by India in 1947. “Holding plebiscite in the region in line with the UNSC resolutions, allowing the people to exercise their right to self determination and providing them an opportunity to determine their political future is the only thing Kashmiri have been demanding and fighting for the past several decades,” he added.
Shabbir Shah said as per the UN resolutions, the Indian government has no mandate or authority to change the disputed nature of the Jammu and Kashmir or annex the territory unilaterally either through an act of Parliament or a judicial order. “The Kashmiri people have rejected the move and made it clear that they won’t accept anything short of freedom,” he said, adding that no decision can be imposed on the Kashmiris.
About the Indian government’s nefarious designs behind the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35-A, the APHC leader said that what the Indian government was doing under this garb was really a matter of grave concern. India, he said, was hell bent on erasing the Kashmiris’ political, cultural and religious identity.
He urged the Kashmiri people to stay vigilant and foil the nefarious designs of the Modi government that wants to create a Palestine-like situation in the occupied territory thereby turning its Muslim majority into a minority, and controlling Kashmir and all its resources.—KMS
