Srinagar: Joint Resistance Leadership comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik on Thursday expressed deep grief at the killing of “freedom fighter Manan Wani and his associate Ashiq Hussain Zargar at the hands Indian forces in Handwara.”
Recounting the killing of thousands of youth by the forces whether “freedom fighters or civilians”, the JRL said that it was an immense tragedy of Kashmir that “our budding youth, professors and engineers , intellectuals and writers like Shaheed Manan, the future of our nation, are paying the price of the greed and follies of those, who since 1947 misled the people through deceit and in violation of international principles of humanity and justice, pushing them under the yoke of occupation for the past 71 years now.”
“Today, our fourth generation is bearing the brunt of that fraud and manipulation. Forced by broken promises of India, non implementation of UN resolutions, deployment of lakhs of military troops to control their land and the resultant severe repression and human rights abuses of its people, hundreds of our bright and budding youth take to arms and in the process sacrifice their precious lives to break the shackles of occupation so that people of this land can get an opportunity to determine their destiny and future.”
JRL said that no nation wants to shoulder the coffins of their youth, “it is most painful, but when oppression and subjugation reaches its height as is the case in Kashmir, people especially the young are forced and under pressure to stand up to resist it. Govt. of India has pushed our youth to such a fate”.
“The nation pays homage to these fearless sons of the soil and their sacrifice,” the JRL said and urged people to observe a complete shutdown on Friday to pay homage to Manan and his associate and protest such killings “which are the result of occupation.”
The Leadership also strongly condemned the killing of pro-freedom activist, Tariq Ahmed Ganai at Meemander, Shopian at the hands of unidentified gunmen. “Before this incident, many pro freedom activists have been targeted by unidentified gunmen and it seems that under a well thought of plan, some forces are strengthening the hands of unidentified gunmen to kill pro-freedom leaders and activists.”
The JRL also strongly opposed the re-establishment of forces camps in Khudwani, Redwani, Kulgam, Shopian, and Alamgari Bazar , Khonkhan near Transport Yard, stating that it’s a new ploy of the authorities to instill fear among the local population of these areas.
The leadership said because of the construction of new camps, people in many areas of south Kashmir have started migrating to safer places.
The JRL said that fact remains “Kashmir is already world’s highest militarized zone where every area has a forces bunker and camps that has already made the life of people misreable.” The leadership demanded immediate removal of all the camps.
