Srinagar, Feb 19 (KNS): Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) comprising of Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Muhammad Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik Tuesday said choking of political space and hence pushing people to the wall is main reason behind Kashmiri youth opting for armed path.
According to a statement issued to KNS, JRL leaders held a meeting today in which present political situation and all its aspects came into deliberation.
Deliberating upon the depressing political situation emerging after recent Pulwama attack and subsequent hostile statements from Prime Minister, Union Home Minister and today by military core commander along with police officers, JRL leaders said “if it was possible to defeat a peoples movement by military oppression, police highhandedness, killings, massacres, and other tyrant means then no country including India would have tasted freedom and sovereignty.”
Referring to a press conference by Army core-commander along with senior police officers in which he has asked mothers and fathers to stop their children or otherwise be ready to shoulder their dead bodies, JRL said that “persuading young boys to refrain from treading some path is not in the hands of fathers, mothers or even political leaders however this ball also lies in the court of Indian political and military leadership who have chosen to choke every little space on political dissent in Kashmir.”
JRL said that it is in fact the ‘aggressive’ policies of India’s political leadership, its police, and other agencies and forces, choking of the peaceful political space in Kashmir and hence pushing Kashmiri youth to the wall, which is responsible for pushing younger generation to the armed path.
“In 2008, when Kashmiris at the behest of international community, big countries, diplomatic circles and even Indian civil society changed the outlook of their freedom struggle and started an exemplary peaceful resistance, Kashmiris were of the view that international community and rulers will support this positive change but rulers chose to suppress that peaceful peoples agitation by military and police might,” he said.
They said hundreds of young and unarmed youth, children and women were killed; thousands maimed, thousands jailed and people’s agitation was suppressed by military might. “Same oppression was repeated in 2010 and again a peaceful political dissent was crushed by military and police boots,” they added.
JRL said that during these peaceful political movements, thousands of young boys also faced the wrath of Indians and were jailed, tortured, booked under PSA and in many cases their mothers, sisters, brothers and fathers abused and humiliated in front of them.
“This callous approach of rulers and choking of every little space on peaceful political dissent actually pushed a whole generation to the wall and left no space for young ones but to join armed resistance,” JRL added.
They said from 2014, when BJP took over the reins of government at Delhi, they announced a hardcore policy against Kashmiris and immediately started their anti-Kashmir actions under operation all out.
“This operation was not only launched against armed youth but even peaceful political movement also became a target of this as besides killings hundreds, maiming and blinding thousands by pellets and bullets, blasting and burning down of residential houses and properties, thousands got arrested under PSA and even many agencies and institutions were used to cage more political leaders and cage them at jails outside Jammu Kashmir,” they said.
“A conscious human being in no case can accept the killing of any human being and when you chose to suppress a nation or even a human being by military might, choke every little space on peaceful political dissent, jail and torture political activists and leaders, and use only iron fist to curb on peoples movement, you in fact push that nation or person to the wall and in other words promote violence and violent means only,” JRL said.
The leadership said that “if it was possible to defeat a peoples movement by military oppression, police highhandedness, killings, massacres, and other tyrant means then no country including India would have tasted freedom and sovereignty because history bears a witness to the fact that every oppressor, occupant used all these tactics to suppress freedom movements but failed to halt peoples march towards freedom.”
JRL said that India itself fought against British colonists for 200 years, there were also two parallel thoughts fighting the war for free India, but it is also a fact that it was same British imperialism which provided space to Ghandi Ji and other political leaders and hence promoted peaceful politics in India.
On the issue of removing security of some resistance leaders, JRL said that it was a non issue as it was India and its supporters in Jammu Kashmir who deployed security to these leaders without any request and today have removed it also on their own.
JRL said that resistance camp is striving against the occupation peacefully and politically, and this removal of security will not affect their struggle for freedom and self-determination in any manner. (KNS)