Srinagar, Mar 25: Independent lawmaker and MLA Langate Er Rasheed has said that son of newly appointed Tehreek-e-Hurriyat chairman Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai is not the first youth hailing from a “pro-resistance leader’s family” who is suspected to have taken the arms.
In a press release here today, it was said that while addressing a public meeting at Mantrigam Bandipora on Sunday, Er Rasheed said “in his very first statement Sehrai defined contours of the movement with much clarity and as such there should be no confusion in the minds of anyone that pro-resistance leadership wants a peaceful resolution to the Kashmir dispute in light of its historical perspective.
“One has a right to defer with the political philosophy and the ideology of Sehrai Sahab, Jamat-I-Islami, and other pro-resistance parties, but we need not to forget that scores of top-ranked leaders from Jamat-I-Islami have lost their sons during the ongoing resistance movement since 1989,” the press release quoted Rasheed as saying.
“Hundreds of Jamat-I-Islami activists were butchered by forces and counterinsurgents and their huge sacrifices cannot be downplayed. We all wish Sehrai Sahab’s son well and the propaganda which is going on in the national media is nothing but a shameless attempt to mislead Indian masses and world community by creating a debate over Sehrai Shab’s family,” Rasheed said.
He said there can be a difference of opinion in Sehrai’s family as well and it is not necessary that Sehrai’s family members may be in agreement with each other over every point, Rasheed said.
He accused Delhi of diverting from the real issue and said that cosmetic measures will never work.
“The only way to stop youth from joining militancy is to offer unconditional dialogue to militant leadership. Delhi needs to realize that just trying to confuse the situation and put negative pictures about Kashmir dispute before the world community will prove counterproductive at the end,” he said.
“It is disgusting that national media every evening abuses not only Kashmiris but also crosses the limits during debates by dragging Islam, Shariyah and Caliphate in every issue, without knowing the real spirit and message of Islam. Nobody needs to feel scared of Muslims and neither do Kashmiri Muslims need a certificate from New Delhi and its biased media of being tolerant,” Rasheed said.