Srinagar: Chairman of Hurriyat Conference (M) Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Friday expressed concern over “bloodshed” taking place on the Line of Control.
Addressing the Friday congregation at the Historic Jama Masjid, Mirwaiz said each day civilians including children on both sides of LoC “which is very sad and painful.”
“Soldiers also become cannon fodder of this hate as a consequence of the lingering Kashmir dispute,” he said, adding, “These soldiers on either side belong to the poor segment of society and join forces to make a living and support their poor families and their killing is equally sad.”
It is strange that both sides boast of killing soldiers of the other side and swear that deaths will be avenged leading to more killings and destruction, including those of civilians.
“This senselessness and bloodshed is given the name of nationalism and defence of national honour,” he said and hoped that better sense prevails and these senseless killings are stopped.
“The only beneficiaries of this death and destruction are those who provide the arms and ammunition for this mayhem.”
Mirwaiz urged the two nuclear neighbors to give up confrontation and come to the table to resolve the Kashmir dispute once for all and put a permanent end to “this madness and suffering that has consumed so many lives and is a the source of the suffering of Kashmiris for past 70 years.”
On the 29th anniversary of Kashmiri Pandith communities’ migration from Kashmir, Mirwaiz once again appealed to them to return to their roots, their homeland Kashmir.
He said people of Kashmir will welcome them with warmth and open arms. He said their migration was a human issue and it makes all Kashmiris sad that they are away from their motherland and yearn to come back.
Mirwaiz said Kashmiri Pandith are part of “our joint ethos and culture and common past”. “They will always remain so.”
He said Kashmir belongs to them as much as it does to Muslims and “we want to share our future together.” He said “our demand” for the right of self- determination is for each inhabitant of J&K and they have an equal right to have their say in its future dispensation. Mirwaiz while terming the rape and murder of a minor bakerwal girl child in Kathua as barbaric and shameful act said, the callousness of those in charge not acting promptly in tracing the missing child for a week is condemnable.
