Srinagar: In occupied Kashmir, Hurriyet leaders and organizations have welcomed the statement of the US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, who expressed the expectation that Donald Trump’s deal-making skills could help resolve the Kashmir dispute.
US Ambassador while addressing a press conference at the United Nations said that the US administration would assist in de-escalating tension between Pakistan and India.
The Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Muhammad Yasin Malik in a statement issued in Srinagar termed the statement as positive and hoped that the statement of US envoy would be translated into action.
The forum led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in a statement described the statement as encouraging particularly in the background of the present good relations between the US and India.
The Chairman of Democratic Freedom Party, Shabbir Ahmad Shah, and other Hurriyet leaders including Mukhtar Ahmad Waza, Bilal Siddiqui, Mohammad Yousuf Naqash, Javed Ahmad Mir and Sikh leader Narendra Singh Khalsa in their statements said that the US statement was a proof that despite negative propaganda unleashed by India and its collaborators against the freedom struggle, the case of the oppressed Kashmiri people was being heard across the globe.
Senior APHC leader, Agha Syed Hassan Al-Moosvi Al-Safvi, Dukhtaran-e-Millat Chairperson, Aasiya Andrabi and Qazi Yasir in their statements asked people to completely stay away from election drama being staged by India to hoodwink the international community. The leaders asked the people to beware of the conspiracies being hatched by Indian agencies to divide the Kashmiris on sectarian lines.
Meanwhile, complete shutdown, marked by anti-India demonstrations, were observed in Pulwama town, today, against the arrest of several youth by Indian police during raids on their houses. All shops and business establishments were closed while traffic was off the road. People raising anti-India and pro-freedom slogans demanded immediate release of the arrested youth. Indian police arrested APHC leaders, Muhammad Yousuf Naqash and Maulvi Bashir Ahmad during raids on their houses in Srinagar.
On the other hand, a video of a cricket match held at a local ground in the Kashmir Valley has gone viral on social media in which players can be seen wearing Pakistan team’s uniform and singing the Pakistan’s National Anthem. The match was played at a ground in central Kashmir’s Gandarbal district where India is going to conduct polling for sham Indian Parliamentary by-elections next week.
