Srinagar, July 13: (GNS) Defying house arrest to pay tribute to Martyrs of 13 July 1931, Hurriyat Conference (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was arrested by police on Friday outside his Nigeen residence, a spokesperson of the amalgam said in a statement issued to GNS.
Meanwhile, talking to media outside his residence prior to arrest, Mirwaiz said that in keeping with the tradition of paying floral tributes to the martyrs who are among the first to lay down their lives in Kashmiris’ struggle for liberation from “tyrannical foreign control”, he was moving towards the martyrs graveyard but was forcibly stopped.
“These martyrs are the torchbearers of our struggle for self-determination who set the precedent to stand up against repression and fight for fundamental right, the right to be masters of our destiny,” he said.
Mirwaiz said “the tremendous sacrifices of lives have been made since then and lakhs of Kashmiris have been martyred and continue to be killed for the fulfillment of this quest”.
“Undoubtedly it is an uphill task that the brave people of the nation have undertaken but to break the yoke of subjugation and achieve freedom is the dream of every nation which is worth all the struggle and sacrifice being offered,” he said.
Mirwaiz was accompanied by senior leaders and activists including Engineer Hilal Ahmad War, Sufi Mushtaq Ahmad, Jaffar Kashmiri, Advocate Yasir Dalal, Farooq Ahmad, Abdul Rashid and others.
Meanwhile, Mirwaiz welcomed the statement of UN chief Antonio Guttres backing UNHCHR Zeid bin Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein’s call for international investigation into human rights situation in Kashmir calling it the “voice of the UN”.
He said instead of calling the UN report biased and fallacious, the Government of India should understand that it cannot forever cloak the “gravest human rights abuses” being perpetuated here by their forces from the eyes of the world.
“Truth always comes out and no amount of denial or propaganda can change that fact,” Mirwaiz said adding, “Human rights abuses are a consequence of forcible control, when armed forces are pitched against rebelling civilians.”
He said once Government of India accepts that Kashmir dispute cannot be addressed militarily without causing human rights abuses but has to be addressed politically, all this will change and peace can return to the subcontinent and all of us can be rid of accusing and defending charges.
Mirwaiz urged the Government of India to give up its “obduracy” and resolve the Kashmir dispute in the spirit of democracy and give people the right to self determination.
He also criticized the ruling dispensation for barring people from offering prayers at Jamia Masjid for the 10th week this year and other masajids in downtown Srinagar by enforcing curfew and restrictions. (GNS)
