Srinagar
In occupied Kashmir, Shah Mali Begum, the mother of prominent martyred Kashmiri liberation leader, Muhammad Maqbool Butt, has appealed to the Kashmiris to observe the anniversary of the martyred leader on February 11 with full enthusiasm and exemplary unity.
The 90-year-old Shah Mali Begum talking to media persons at her home in Trehgam area of Kapwara district said that the observance should give a clear message that the Kashmiris were determined to continue their struggle till they achieved freedom from illegal occupation of their soil by India.
She said that her four sons, Mohammed Maqbool Butt, Habib Butt, Ghulam Nabi Butt and Manzoor Butt, were martyred by Indian troops. She said that they had sacrificed their lives for the Kashmir cause and her only surviving son, Zahoor Ahmed Butt, was languishing in an Indian jail for last four years.
Shah Mali Begum said that her grandson and Shaheed Manzoor Butt’s minor son Adil Manzoor Butt had been sentenced for 11 years and was also following in the footsteps of his elders. She said that Indian forces raided their house every now and then, destroying crops and other things, but their morale was still high.
Shah Mali Begum said that the sacrifices of her sons and millions of Kashmiris would one day bear fruit and the dawn of freedom would rise soon. She said that she along with her other family members would go to the grave of her martyred son Manzoor Butt at the martyrs’ graveyard on February 11 even if Indian authorities imposed restrictions and curfew in the town.
Shah Mali Begum added that India has turned occupied Kashmir into a big prison but Kashmiris remain steadfast in their freedom struggle. She said that at this time, the Indian people were also chanting slogans of Kashmir’s freedom which should serve as an eye-opener for the Indian rulers.
It is to mention here that India had hanged Muhammad Maqbool Butt in New Delhi’s Tihar Jail on 11th February in 1984 and buried him in the jail premises.—KMS
