The Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik on Monday said that the “threatening” speech of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Kashmiris struggling for achievement of right to self-determination is a reflection of “extreme arrogance of power and electoral opportunism”.
JRL in a statement issued to said that India is “immorally and illegally” holding on to Jammu and Kashmir without ascertaining the will of its people by blocking the holding of UN backed referendum.
“It is ruling the state by sheer military might, resulting in extreme repression and human rights abuses. Instead of addressing the globally acknowledged dispute lingering for the past 71 years and working towards its resolution in a democratic manner which it claims to be a champion of, the head of this huge country stoops to threats and warnings on the back of its huge military apparatus spread across the length and breadth of J&K,” JRL said.
The leaders said the young and educated boys killed each day by this “vast web of military might with vengeance” are not some hardcore members of terrorist cartels but young idealists driven by passion for freedom and resistance to “oppression”, paying the price of the non-resolution of an essentially human and political dispute being dealt militarily by GoI.
They said that while there are 8 lakh Indian forces manning this land and as per GoI’s own admission, only 300 armed youth are fighting them, most of who are untrained and novices driven only by passion. “What is there to boast in this most disproportionate equation,” they said.
JRL said for the last 30 years in particular, the people of J&K at all levels and fronts are bearing the brunt of being under “arbitrary and forcible control”.
“More than two lakh Kashmiris have been killed and all forms of torture and harassment resulting in severe human right violations borne. Yet the nation is unrelenting and unwavering on its goal to self- determination. It is no small feat that a small nation like ours is giving such a tough fight to a mighty and resourceful adversary,” the leadership said.
“It must be reminding the Indian state of its own freedom struggle against the mighty British empire on whom the “sun never set”. But one day the sun did set on them as in a fight between might and truth, truth always prevails,” JRL said.
JRL said that no nation can be enslaved for a long period by banking on military might as the recent example was well before the world as to how the US was forced to acknowledge the facts and ground realities in Afghanistan and today is talking about engagement and looking beyond military options.
JRL said the “exemplary strike” on Indian PM”s visit should serve as eye-opener for Indian rulers. “In India, people throng in large numbers to greet their political leaders, shower petals and express their happiness and jubilation, but the response from the population in this forcibly occupied land is enough to convey a clear and loud message,” the leaders said.
The leadership said that the slogan raised by the Indian PM –Insaniyat, Jhamooriyat aur Kasmiriyat – was nothing but a farce to befool the world community as the reality is that “oppression touched new heights” in Kashmir.
Reacting to Indian PM’s claims of giving electricity to every household, the JRL said that Kashmiri people have never gone with a begging bowl before New Delhi over electricity as the reality is that some vested interests and greedy politicians who sold their conscience handed over the state’s power resources to New Delhi and deprived the people of Kashmir from their own power resources. They want return of all the power projects being handed over to the Indian executing agencies, they said.
JRL said that Kashmiri Pandits were the part and parcel of Kashmir’s age-old culture and ethos and they have always been urging them to return to their homes in a dignified manner but separate colonies and transit camps were highly objectionable and not acceptable.
“By blowing the trumpet of surgical strikes every time, BJP can make movies to lure voters, but it can’t befool people of Kashmir who are engaged in a sacred and genuine struggle that has priceless sacrifices at its back. The movement to achieve the final goal will be further intensified,” JRL said.
