National News

ISLAMABAD, (APP): Hurriyet leaders have said that observance of
complete shutdown by people on Thursday against India’s anti-Kashmir policies should serve as an eye-opener for New Delhi and its collaborators in the territory.
The shutdown was observed on the call jointly given by top Hurriyet
leaders, Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik to
protest against India’s plans to construct separate colonies for retired
Indian soldiers and Kashmiri Pandits, harassment of Jammu Muslims and Delhi’s so-called Industrial Policy in Kashmir, Kashmir Media Service reported.
Syed Ali Gilani, who is under house arrest in Srinagar, in a statement
while thanking the people for observing exemplary shutdown said that the
protest would continue until the Indian government completely shunned these
dangerous and anti-Kashmir ideas.
“We will not allow the implementation of the RSS agendas in Jammu and
Kashmir at any cost,” he said.
He castigated the pro-India political parties including PDP and NC for
playing similar roles during their regimes and obeying New Delhi’s orders.
“The policy makers of India are using every method and tactic to
suppress the peaceful voices of the Kashmiri people and to eliminate their
Muslim identity, and these local parties play the role of facilitators for New Delhi,” he added.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who is also under house arrest in Srinagar, in a
statement said that the people’s anger and resistance against the anti-people policies of the Indian government were genuine and natural.
“The setting up of soldier colonies, satellite townships for Kashmiri
Pandits, houses for the non-local labourers working in Kashmir, and the new
anti-Kashmiri industrial policy is not acceptable to us and we will oppose
these steps tooth and nail,” he said.
He also condemned the arrest and confinement of the pro-freedom leaders
and activists, terming the action as frustration of the authorities.
Muhammad Yasin Malik, who is under illegal detention, in his statement
said that through the shutdown, the people of Kashmir had shown their anger
against the proposed conspiratorial plots of India and its puppet rulers in
the territory.
“If our blood is needed to stop the implementation of these evil
designs, we will not shy away from spilling that too, because these issues are threatening our very existence,” he said.
Yasin Malik also condemned the authorities’ action of detaining the
pro-freedom leadership.
Hurriyet leader, Zafar Akbar Butt, in his statement thanked the people
for observing complete shutdown and said that Thursday’s strike was people’s
verdict against Indian policies in the territory.