Srinagar: In occupied Kashmir, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has described the arrest of Hurriyat leaders by Indian National Investigation Agency (NIA) as a pre-planned psychological crackdown aimed at forcing the Hurriyat leadership to surrender.
The APHC in a statement issued in Srinagar said that NIA was being used as a war weapon against pro-freedom leadership and India’s stooges in the occupied territory were facilitating the arbitrary measures.
“Indian agencies under well-thought-out plan are desperate to malign and defame our sacred movement,†the APHC said. However, it added that these inhuman, immoral and undemocratic tactics will not deter pro-freedom people from advocating their just cause.
The Hurriyat forum led by Mirwaiz Umar in its statement in Srinagar expressing concern over the remand of leaders granted to NIA by a Delhi court said that they feared that the arrested leaders could be pressurized and harassed during interrogation and after being framed in fabricated cases, false alibis could be produced against them to implicate and sentence them.
It added that the manner in which the Indian media is portraying these investigations is meant to further vitiate Indian public opinion against the Kashmiris and thereby the ruling party in India can derive political dividend out of it.
The forum thanked the people for observing complete shutdown against the arrest of Hurriyat leaders and condemned the repeated curfew and restrictions imposed in Srinagar by the puppet administration and said that people of downtown were the constant target of the vengeance of the authorities. It said vandalizing homes and damaging property by the Indian forces has become order of the day especially in rural areas like Qaimoh and Tarigam villages in Kulgam.
Meanwhile, the Hurriyat forum spokesman in a statement in Srinagar strongly condemned the continued house arrest of Hurriyat leaders, Syed Ali Gilani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and repeated arrest of Muhammad Yasin Malik.
