Srinagar: In occupied Kashmir, the puppet authorities have arrested or put under house detention almost all Hurriyet leaders to prevent them from attending the Pakistan Day function to be held at Pakistani Embassy in New Delhi, tomorrow (23rd March).
The authorities have put the All Parties Hurriyet Conference Chairman, Syed Ali Gilani, and other Hurriyet leaders including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai, Shabbir Ahmad Shah, Zafar Akbar Butt, Mukhtar Ahmed Waza, Ayaz Akbar, Peer Saifullah, Altaf Ahmad Shah, Raja Merajuddin Kalwal, Muhammad Ashraf Laya, Umar Aadil Dar and Shahid-ul-Islam either under house arrest or detention. Indian police arrested Nayeem Ahmad Khan at Srinagar airport when he was on way to board a plane for New Delhi.
Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi had invited the Hurriyet leaders to attend the Pakistan Day function.
The APHC spokesman in a statement in Srinagar said that Syed Ali Gilani and other leaders were scheduled to visit New Delhi to attend the ‘Pakistan Day’ function to be held on March 23. However, he said, the leaders have been detained or put under house arrest to stop them from visiting New Delhi and from campaigning for boycott of the forthcoming so-called Indian Parliamentary by-polls in the territory. He condemned the curbs imposed by the occupation authorities on the resistance leaders.
Meanwhile, the Vice Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Showkat Ahmed Bakhshi, in a media interview said, “I am myself on the run as my home was raided by police. The fresh arrest spree to foil the resistance leadership’s anti-election campaign reflects how democratic norms are followed in Kashmir. We just made an announcement to boycott farcical polls and see what Indian government and its authorities did.â€
He said that the police had raided houses of many JKLF leaders, forcing them to go into hiding.
