Srinagar, Mar 22: A protest rally was organized on the call of separatist leadership at historic Jama Masjid here on Thursday against alleged human rights abuses and shifting of Kashmiri prisoners from Srinagar to outside jails.
Led by Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman, Mohammad Yasin Malik, hundreds of the activists of various separatist groups amid pro-freedom sloganeering took out a protest rally at Jama Masjid against shifting of prisoners to outside jails.
The protesters demanded immediate release of all Kashmiri prisoners who they alleged have been “kidnapped by government forces to mount pressure on separatist leadership for surrender”.
Talking to media, Yasin Malik asked Indian government to release all youth and instead arrest the him, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq for issuing protest calendars during 2016 unrest in Kashmir.
“If the FIR has been filed for holding protests during 2016 unrest, then we three –Geelani, Mirwaiz and I — should be charge-sheeted while rest of the youth whom you kidnapped to mount pressure on us to surrender must be released immediately,” Malik added.
He alleged that India “with the help of state government has surpassed all the limits of oppression,” and that the world community must wake up against and hold India accountable for “unleashing hell upon innocent population in Kashmir”.
“India through NIA tried to defame resistance movement and then filed a case, the charge-sheet produced consists of 2016 unrest while the youth who have been falsely implicated were in jails at that time,” said the JKLF chairman.
He said that the protest calendar was issued jointly by Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and him after innocent people were killed at the hands of government forces post-Burhan Wani killing.
“Why don’t you arrest us who issued protest calendars? The youth against whom charge-sheet was produced were kidnapped only to pressurize us for surrender,” Malik claimed.
He said that the aim of holding protest was to highlight the miseries being inflicted upon people of Kashmir by Indian authorities so that world community takes cognizance of the issue.
