Srinagar: Calling for “complete and comprehensive” boycott of upcoming Panchayat elections in Jammu Kashmir, the joint resistance leadership (JRL) on Thursday said such exercise “is meant only to harm the national interests of Kashmiris”.
In a statement, the JRL comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik said, “Any sort of election under Indian occupational system, be it for so-called assembly, parliament, municipal committee or Panchayat is meant only to harm the national interests of Kashmiris.”
“We cannot vote and hence strengthen the hands of those tyrants who separated innocent kids Maryam and Azra from their mothers and are forcing us to bury mutilated bodies of our kith and kin,” they added.
The leaders said New Delhi and local administration “trample democracy and humanity” on daily basis and have been using the elections to “negate Kashmiri demand for self-determination and freedom”.
“As a living nation, it is our responsibility to safeguard the sacrifices rendered by our martyrs and never forget them,” the JRL said, adding, “How can we vote for those so-called rulers and their parties who are hell bent on installing RSS fascism in Jammu Kashmir, change the demography of this land, and turn its Muslim majority into minority, and who have killed thousands.”
“How can any Kashmiri vote and strengthen those who hanged Shaheed Muhammad Maqbool Butt and Shaheed Muhammad Afzal Guru; how can anyone of us vote for those who separated innocent kids Azra and Maryam from their mothers and deprived them from their love and affection?” the JRL said.
Geelani, Mirwaiz and Malik said New Delhi and its “stooges” repeatedly stage this “election drama” to hoodwink the international community.
They said the “pro-India” parties and their leaders try to lure people in the name of roads, unemployment and other “sugarcoated” things. “Soon this election drama is over, these hypocrites, their masters in Delhi and media (will) declare this vote as a ‘vote for India’ and use this farce to camouflage atrocities and human rights abuses in Kashmir,” they said.
Appealing for a “complete and comprehensive” boycott of the “so-called” elections especially the recently announced Panchayat polls, the JRL said, “By exemplary boycott of these elections, Kashmiris will deliver a message to India and the international community that (they) want freedom from Indian occupation and that they will accept nothing less than freedom and right to self-determination.”
