Srinagar: Joint Resistance Leadership on Thursday reacted to Indian Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat’s statement, saying Kashmir movement was “love and worship” for them and people wouldn’t surrender “no matter how much pressure New Delhi builds” on them.
The leadership also termed the charge-sheet filed by the NIA against Kashmiri separatist leaders, and a businessman as “baseless, false and concocted”, stating that the leaders lodged in Tihar have “literally been kidnapped.”
Addressing a joint press conference at the Nigeen residence of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the leaders, also including Joint Syed Ali Geelani and Muhammad Yasin Malik said that deliberate attempts were being made to link Kashmir struggle with “terrorism.”
“This is being done by the Army chief only to justify the massacres of Kashmiris. Now if he wants us to be killed by his men, we would feel proud,” said Yasin Malik.
Addressing the presser over the phone, Geelani, who continues to remain under house arrest, said that Kashmir was recognized dispute by the world community and that the people of Kashmir were demanding their birth right, “which is right to self-determination.”
“Threats by army chief won’t force us into submission. The fact remains that our struggle will continue on all fronts. Ours is a peaceful movement and connecting us with the terrorism is a mere ploy to defame our struggle,” he said.
Addressing the presser, Mirwaiz said that Indian army chief has himself admitted that Kashmiris aspire and desire “right to self determination” but “Delhi would crush the genuine aspirations of people through its military might.”
“Leadership is duty bound to take the ongoing struggle to its logical goal and won’t surrender come what may,” he further said.
Army chief had on Wednesday said that people in Jammu and Kashmir were “tired of militancy as they have realised that it cannot give them what they want.”
“The people of Kashmir in general, I think, are getting tired of terrorism. They have seen it for too long and they have realised that it hasn’t given them what they had desired for,” he had said.
“Let me tell you, with a country like India, to seek independence from a nation where we have strong armed forces, very strong democracy and very strong government. You cannot secede away from IndiaThis is what people have realised and while of course some of them have gotten radicalised into joining terrorism and maybe it gives them a macho image or whatever happens, I do feel that most of them want to join the mainstream, but some of them who have got radicalized,” he had added
“I think we need to address those people and carry out with our deradicalisation campaign. If that works, I think we can succeed in putting an end to terrorism,” he said
On the NIA charge sheet against 12 people in connection with the funding of terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir, Mirwaiz said it was an effort to mislead the people of the country.
“There is an all-out effort on part of the government to mislead the people of India and the people of the world to give them an impression that this is a sponsored struggle and people are in this for money.
We reject this. This is a mere propaganda… We are not scared and we won’t be cowed down,” he said.
Malik said Pakistan was not involved with the 2016 agitation and dared the NIA to arrest the trio who, he said, were behind issuing protest calendars that year.
