Srinagar: In occupied Kashmir, thousands of people, today, participated in the multiple funeral prayers of four youth, martyred by Indian troops during a siege and search operation in Tral area of Pulwama district, yesterday.
The funerals of martyred youth Zahid Ahmad Butt, Ishaq Ahmed, Muhammad Ashraf Dar and a teenage boy Muhammad Younus Sheikh were offered in Nawdal, Batgund, Trich and Saimoh areas of Tral town. The martyrs were laid to rest amid pro-freedom and anti-India slogans. Complete strike was observed in Puwlama district against the killings. Mobile and internet services remained suspended in the district on the 2nd day, today.
Meanwhile, hundreds of students of Islamic University of Science and Technology, Awantipora, assembled in the university campus and staged protests against the killings in Tral. The university campus reverberated with slogans like “We Want Freedom†and “Kashmir Banega Pakistanâ€. The students carried placards with pictures of Burhan Wani. Residents of Qaimoh, today, blocked the road leading to Kulgam to protest against ransacking of their properties by Indian troops during a cordon and search operation in the area.
Complete shutdown will be held across the occupied territory on Saturday against the surge in killings, raids by Delhi-based National Investigation Agency and Enforcement Directorate on the residences of Hurriyat leaders and Indian plans to abrogate Article 35A of the Indian constitution. Call for the strike has been given by the joint resistance leadership comprising Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik. The leadership has warned that any bid aimed at changing the state subject laws in Jammu and Kashmir would face stern resistance from the Kashmiris.
The Kashmir High Court Bar Association in a statement in Srinagar warned that fiddling with Article 35A would have serious ramifications in Jammu and Kashmir. The Bar Association said that Indian judicial system backed by the RSS-BJP combine was being used for abrogation of the Article.
The Democratic Freedom Party in a statement in Srinagar said that the party Chairman, Shabbir Ahmad Shah, had been kept with criminals in Delhi’s notorious Tihar jail and was facing a possible threat to his life. Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Jammu and Kashmir in a statement condemned the police raid on the residence of the party leader Umer Aadil Dar and harassment of his family members at Soiteng in Srinagar.
Hurriyat leaders and organizations in their separate statements paid glowing tributes to prominent martyred Hurriyat leader, Sheikh Abdul Aziz on the eve of his 9th martyrdom anniversary. It was on 11th August, 2008, that Sheikh Abdul Aziz was shot dead by Indian troops while he was leading a procession from Srinagar to the Line of Control against the economic blockade of the Valley by Hindu extremists of Jammu.
On the other hand, Awami Ittehad Party Chairman and the member of so-called Kashmir Assembly, Engineer Rasheed while addressing a press conference in Srinagar, today, expressed his readiness to join All Parties Hurriyat Conference. He said that he had taken the decision to this effect in response to a call made by Syed Ali Gilani to the pro-India parties to join the Hurriyat. He said that he was also ready to quit the Assembly seat.
