Calls for strike on Saturday
Srinagar: Alleging that New Delhi was using “state repression” to force Kashmiri youth towards, militancy, Hurriyat Conference(G) chairman, Syed Ali Shah Geelani Monday appealled youth "fed up of government repression not to fall for any such trap and keep the freedom struggle peaceful."
Addressing a press conference at his Hyderpora residence here, Geelani alleged that his-led Tehreek-Hurriyat and Hurriyat Conference was being targeted and “51 members are currently behind bars.”
“I have been under house arrest for the past 127 days while almost our entire leadership is detained in jails across the state. Besides, thousands of youth are held across several jails and interrogation centers, and the police is now booking 14 and 15 year olds under draconian PSA. Political prisoners are being kept in the most inhumane conditions and subjected to physical and mental torture,” he said while calling for a state-wide shutdown on January 15.
Geelani said victims of the “terror and oppression” unleashed by police and other forces had been visiting him and expressing their doubts about keeping the “struggle peaceful when the government has launched a crackdown against peaceful activities, when the police and other forces are detaining the youth under draconian acts and subjecting them to torture and humiliation.”
“They ask me why shouldn’t they take up the gun again, but I persuade them against it. I tell them that this is what India wants you to do. And today again, I appeal the youth to keep the struggle peaceful come what may, because India wants to push you to the wall so that it succeeds in its conspiracy of turning our peaceful struggle violent. I appeal them not to fall for India's violence trap ,” Geelani said.
Geelani alleged that for this purpose, police and other government forces in Kashmir had launched a “crackdown” on youth and pro-freedom leaders at New Delhi’s behest. “The so-called state government is helpless. It’s New Delhi which is running the show in Kashmir through its military forces and police,” he said.
He also alleged that the police had turned the arrest and release of youth into a “profitable business”. “ I can produce before you scores of boys, who were released after police extorted hefty sums from their families, but they fear for police reprisal,” he said.
Geelani also lashed out at the judiciary for “failing to provide justice to Kashmiris.”
“People are arrested and booked under fictitious cases while the judges base their decision on mere accusations of police,” he said.
He said the “Deputy Commissioners and Divisional Magistrates” were following the “diktat of police and security agencies.”
“They should listen to their conscience once and ask themselves how can they sign every PSA order just because the police orders them to do so,” he said. Condemning the re-arrest of Mian Qayoom, Geelani said the Bar President was being “victimized” for pleading cases of “victims of state oppression.” “He is not being released despite the court quashing his PSA several times, and has been attacked twice by rightwing BJP and Jan Sanghi activists.
No comments:
Post a Comment