Srinagar: Joint Resistance Leadership has termed the ordinance, calling for imprisonment for those who call and observe shutdown as a form of protest, passed by the ruling PDP-BJP government as “outrageous and dictatorial”.
The JRL comprising of Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik stated that observing shutdown was a universally accepted democratic and peaceful right of protest and resistance.
“Fixing a punishment for it reflects the totalitarian and repressive mindset of the anti-people ruling regime.”
The leadership said that tall claims of “healing touch” and “battle of ideas” by Mehbooba Mufti and her party before coming to power, have all come to naught and instead she with her partners BJP have broken all records of committing “atrocities and inflicting misiries upon the people of Kashmir.”
They said that during her regime killing, blinding of people, arrests, imprisonment and detention of masses and leadership, arson, canalization of peoples properties, harassment, propaganda onslaught and other forms of repression have touched a “new low.”
On the other hand, they said, she along with her “coterie of opportunists” have further eroded whatever was left of the safeguards of the people of the state by eroding the economic autonomy of the state through implementation of GST.
“As her tenure progresses so do her compromises with regard to the interests of the people of Kashmir who are under assaults from all fronts. The situation has come to such a pass now that even the basic right to protest through shutdowns against these moves and constant assaults is now being denied and made punishable.”
They said issuing ordinance calling for imprisonment for shutdowns is with a view to instil fear of retribution and punishment among the resistance leadership and people of Kashmir in order to discourage them from raising their voice against oppression and for demanding their right to self-determination. “But like all such previous repressive measures it is bound to fail.”
The JRL said that shutdown was an accepted and acknowledged way of resisting oppression and injustice across the world and that it should stand clear that resistance leadership will continue with this right no matter how much government would try to choke the voice.
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