Altaf Hamid Rao:
Islamabad/ MIRPUR [AJK], (Parliament Times) : President Azad Jammu and Kashmir Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry paid rich tributes to prominent liberation leader Syed Ali Gilani for his matchless sacrifices and indomitable role in the Kashmiris’ ongoing struggle for right to self-determination.
The president expressed these views while addressing an event organized by Friends of Kashmir on the occasion of the first anniversary of Syed Ali Gilani here on Thursday.
Highlighting the deceased leader’s supreme sacrifices, Barrister Chaudhary said that Gilani went through trials and tribulations throughout his life and endured hardships at an unprecedented scale during his decades-long period of imprisonments and incarcerations.
“I have had the privilege of meeting Syed Ali Geelani several times when I visited Srinagar where he was put under house arrest”, he said adding that the courage and perseverance with which he spearheaded the resistance movement speak volumes about his commitment to the noble cause of freedom.
“It was his unwavering commitment and steadfastness that kept the torch of freedom alive in Kashmir”, the president said.
Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry further said that late Gilani always struggled to strengthen the ongoing freedom movement and foster unity within the rank and file of Hurriyat.
He said that the entire Kashmiri leadership on both sides of the line of control was united on one point agenda, which he said was the freedom of Kashmir from India’s illegal occupation.
Referring to the post 5th August situation in Indian held territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhary said, “Since August 5, 2019, India has been hatching conspiracies to grab Kashmir and usurp Kashmiris rights”.
About the Indian government’s plan to change the region’s demography, he said, “India has so far issued fake domiciles to more than 45 lakh non-state Hindus to change the demography of Occupied Kashmir”.
On the other hand, he said, the BJP government led by Modi has been planning to install a Hindu Chief Minister in the state. The delimitations of constituencies, he said, was a well thought out plan aimed at paving the way for a Hindu Chief Minister.
He also condemned the unjust sentencing and sham trial of Hurriyat leader Muhammad Yasin Malik and said that India was using judicial apparatus silence legitimate political voices in the IoK.He said that under the given circumstances there was a dire need to expose India’s nefarious designs in the region. He said that Kashmir was one of the highly militarized regions of the world where Indian has deployed 9 lakh forces to quell the Kashmiris’ indigenous struggle.The president also paid rich tributes Kashmiri martyrs and reiterated his resolve to continue the struggle till the people of Kashmir achieve their cherished goal. The seminar was attended and addressed by former Prime Minister Sardar Atique Ahmad Khan, Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan Niazi, President PML (N) AJK Shah Ghulam Qadir, Chairman JUI AJK Maulana Saeed Yusuf Khan, PPP leader Faisal Mumtaz Rathore, Ghazala Habib of Friends of Kashmir and others.
