Srinagar, Jul 20: Hurriyat-M chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Friday said that New Delhi has failed to intimidate the pro-freedom leadership in Kashmir through raids and arrests by its agencies.
Addressing the Friday congregation at the historic Jamia Masjid in downtown Srinagar, Mirwaiz said it is evident to all that the raids conducted by various agencies and the subsequent harassment and arrests are “a ploy to intimidate the peoples’ leadership and instill fear in them.”
“Let it be clear to all that neither the leadership nor the Kashmiri people will be cowed down by these measures and propaganda,” said the Mirwaiz.
He said that people will continue to demand for the right to self-determination “till it is not granted to us”.
“Sooner or later the Kashmir dispute will have to be addressed. No amount of repression, harassment, intimidation or fear can change that fact,” he said.
Mirwaiz said that those behind such measures should understand that Kashmiris are far too politically mature and conscious people who have seen enough of such plots and ploys in the last 70 years of New Delhi’s rule.
He said that the condition of Kashmiri political prisoners is very bad as they have been kept with criminals in Delhi’s “notorious Tihar jail and as such there is always a risk to their lives.”
“Their health has deteriorated and basic medical supplies are denied to them,” he said.
