Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) for Human Rights and Women Empowerment Mushaal Hussein Mullick on Sunday said Maqbool Butt Shaheed was an icon of resistance movement who sacrificed his life for the noble cause of freedom of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). He was a man of integrity and honesty who devoted his entire life for the collective cause, went through trials and tribulations and ultimately sacrificed his life in pursuit of long-cherished ideals, she added.
She was speaking in a function organized at Koshar School at refugees camp Mankpiyan to mark the 40th martyrdom anniversary of Maqbool Butt. Quran Khawani and special prayers were also offered on the occasion. The SAPM said that the legendary Kashmir liberation leader had been sent to the gallows in New Delhi’s infamous Tihar jail on February 11 in 1984 for his role in Kashmir freedom movement. She lamented that the fascist Indian authorities had not handed over the dead body of the Kashmiri leader to his heirs despite lapse of four decades, who was buried in the premises of infamous jail. Mushall said the people of Kashmir were neither given the right to live nor to die. They even did not have the right to bury their loved ones. Mushaal said that her husband Yasin Malik was being subjected to brutal and inhuman treatment as he was denied all legal, constitutional and fundamental rights. She feared that the Indian government was hell-bent to hang Yasin Malik as he had been implicated in frivolous and politically-motivated cases to silence his voice. The SAPM called upon the world community and UN bodies to force India to ensure his release and let Kashmiris decide their fate as per their aspirations.