Srinagar: In occupied Kashmir, the puppet authorities imposed strict restrictions in Srinagar and other areas, today, to prevent a march towards the UN office at Sonawar in Srinagar. Indian troops fired pallets and teargas shells to quell anti-India demonstrations.
Call for the march was given by the joint resistance leadership comprising Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik to urge the World Body to impress upon India to hand over the mortal remains of prominent martyred liberation leaders, Muhammad Maqbool Butt and Muhammad Afzal Guru, to their families. The two leaders were hanged by India in New Delhi’s Tihar Jail and remain buried in the premises of the prison.
The authorities deployed Indian troops and police personnel in strength in Srinagar and other major towns to stop people from conducting the march and staging anti-India demonstrations. All the entry and exit points leading to Srinagar’s Lal Chowk were sealed. However, despite restrictions, people took to the streets in Srinagar, Badgam, Ganderbal, Kangan, Bandipore, Hajin, Sopore, Palhallan, Baramulla, Islamabad, Bijbehara, Pampore, Pulwama, Shopian, Kulgam, Handwara, Kupwara and other areas and shouted pro-freedom, pro-Pakistan and anti-India slogans. They also waved Pakistani flags. Indian police fired pellets and teargas and PAVA shells to disperse the protesters in Nowhatta, Palhallan and Sopore areas, injuring many people. Senior APHC leader, Agha Syed Hassan Al-Moosvi Al-Safvi addressing a gathering in Badgam urged India to hand over the bodies of Maqbool Butt and Afzal Guru to their families for proper burial.
Indian police arrested Muhammad Yasin Malik outside a mosque in Sara-i-Bala area of Srinagar when he tried to lead the march. The police also took into custody the Chief Organizer of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Freedom League, Imtiyaz Ahmed Shah, when he was on way to party office. The puppet authorities put Mirwaiz Umar Farooq under house arrest, today, while other leaders including Syed Ali Gilani, Shabbir Ahmad Shah, Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai, Nayeem Ahmad Khan, Mukhtar Ahmed Waza, Hilal Ahmed War, Zafar Akbar Butt and Ayaz Akbar were already under detention at their residences or police stations. The authorities also locked the doors of Srinagar’s historic Jamia Masjid and disallowed people from holding congregational Juma prayers. Indian police disallowed the Ummat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir to organize a blood donation camp and a public rally in Islamabad town.
On the other hand, complete shutdown will be observed in the occupied territory, tomorrow, to mark the martyrdom anniversary of Muhammad Maqbool Butt who was sent to gallows by India on 11th February in 1984.
In New Delhi, the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University held a demonstration on the martyrdom anniversary of Muhammad Afzal Guru, yesterday. They expressed solidarity with those killed, maimed and blinded by Indian force in the Kashmir Valley during the 2016 uprising.
