Srinagar: Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Monday said that the police’s failure to nab culprits behind braid chopping incidents has led many believe that they are being shielded.
In a statement issued, the Hurriyat Conference expressed serious concern over the unabated incidents of braid chopping and “now incidents of theft of gold jewellery and cash from the households from various parts of Kashmir by mysterious criminal elements.”
“It is an irony that the government and its police has failed to nab the culprits and stop the incidents of hair cutting that have left the population especially the women folk of Kashmir in great distress and a state of fear,” a spokesman of the amalgam said.
He said so far people of Kashmir have only witnessed the “tall claims and hollow assurances” on the part of the police without any tangible progress in apprehending the elements involved in these incidents.
He said the “height of the oppression” was that when people try to raise their voice against such incidents, police uses force including bullets, pellets and tear gas on the peaceful protestors which was “highly condemnable.”
He said that the use of brutal force on the peaceful protestors speaks of the intolerance of the authorities towards public outcry. “It was being deliberately done to terrorize the people of Kashmir in order to pressurize them to relinquish their genuine and legitimate struggle.”
He said that in the wake of rising incidents of braid cutting in Kashmir, many elderly figures, prominent citizens and social activists visited the residence of incarcerated chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and shared their concern and anxiety over it. The delegations apprised Mirwaiz about the level of fear created by some people who also throw stones at the roof-tops of residential houses and at their entry gates in the dead of the night, resulting in the panic among residents.
He said that the struggle of Kashmiris has reached the stage where now certain opposition parties and civil society groups of India also have realised the importance of resolving the long pending issues of Kashmir and are advocating immediate resolution of the issue for durable peace in the region. He, however, said it was an irony that the present dispensation at New Delhi continues with its rigid and stubborn approach towards Kashmir and wants to follow its traditional iron fist policy and military approach rather than taking steps for resolving the issue.
Reacting to the recent assertions of India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swraj, the spokesman said the fact remains that the bitterness between India and Pakistan has remained mainly because of the pending Kashmir dispute which has been the reason of wars and acrimony between these two neighbours.
He said it was evident that unless Kashmir issue was resolved keeping in view the wishes and aspirations of the people of Kashmir, the claims of peace building and stability in the region will remain elusive.
“It can be realized only either by implementing UNSC resolutions on Kashmir or through a meaningful dialogue among India, Pakistan and the people of Jammu and Kashmir.”
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