International News

WASHINGTON, (APP): A US-based Kashmiri group has condemned the arrest of a student leader and a professor who were detained after participating in rallies, including one in the Jawarhal Nehru University (JNU), to commemorate the execution of separatist Kashmiri leader Afzal Guru.
“We demand the unconditional release of all students including a very
respected scholar SAR Geelani and Kanhaiya Kumar who have been detained for voicing their political beliefs on JNU and other university campuses in India,” said Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Secretary General of World Kashmir Awareness.
“The BJP led government is using all its muscles to oppress all voices
of dissent. We condemn the high handedness of police on the peaceful protesters at these educational institutions,” he said in a statement.
The arrest of student leader and the professor came after a video
emerged in recent days showing participants who were calling for giving independence to Indian-held Kashmir.
Dr. Fai said that issue over JNU protest has brought the issue of
Kashmir into global limelight again, encouraging discussions and dialogue about self-determination. “The authorities will hope that the JNU protest and Afzal Guru can be swept under the rug of the Indian conscience too. But repression invariably brings about the very opposite.”
Afzal Guru was executed in Tihar Jail in 2013. Many, however, believed,
as did the students at JNU, that this was a travesty of justice. The overwhelming majority of the Kashmiri population, including the chief minister in waiting, Ms. Mehbooba Mufti, her late father, Mufti Sayeed, the leader of the opposition, Mr. Omar Abdullah (Former Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir) and his father, Dr. Farooq Abdullah (former Federal Minister of India) have all said that Afzal guru’s hanging was a miscarriage of justice.
“Most of the slogans shouted by the students at JNU have legal,
constitutional and international legitimacy,” Dr. Fai said adding that when students shout “Self-determination for Kashmir or Freedom for Kashmir”, these are neither secessionist nor separatist slogans, but speaking the truth.
He said terrorizing the student population is possibly the worst thing a
government could do, adding that blowback is inevitable.”The security of all students and in particular Kashmiri students on various university campuses including JNU is the responsibility of the state.”
He said Kashmiri students have been targeted because of their political
beliefs and their landlords have ordered them to vacate the flats.
Describing Kashmir as the main dispute between India and Pakistan, Dr.
Fai said that if the Kashmir question were resolved, much of the hostility between the two countries would dissolve. “The region would not be living on the edge of a nuclear holocaust.”