The Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), a pro-independence organisation headed by incarcerated Kashmiri leader Muhammad Yasin Malik, on Thursday announced to hold a “peaceful freedom march” towards the Line of Control (LoC) on October 4, calling upon the governments in Islamabad and Muzaffarabad not to create any hindrance to the move.
The announcement was made by JKLF central spokesperson Muhammad Rafiq Dar at a news conference here, in the company of party’s central vice chairmen Khawaja Saifuddin and Saleem Haroon, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit Baltistan (GB) zone president Dr Syed Tauqeer Gillani, central treasurer Manzoor Ahmed Chishti, Students Liberation Front (SLF) chief Advocate Abdul Rahim Malik and others.
“In order to express solidarity with the besieged population of India occupied Kashmir, to draw attention of the international community towards the state terrorism unleashed by India in the held territory and to press it to get the lingering issue permanently and democratically resolved on priority basis, we have taken a revolutionary decision to stage a ‘peaceful people’s freedom march’ from Bhimber to Chakothi under the leadership of acting JKLF chairman Abdul Hameed Butt,” Dar said.
“Later, we would trample down the bloody line or the so called ceasefire line that splits the state of Jammu and Kashmir from Chakothi sector,” he added, referring to the LoC.
This decision, Dar told, was taken on Friday (Aug 30) at the joint meeting of the JKLF’s most authorotative ‘supreme council’ and the zonal working committee of AJK and GB in Rawalpindi.
The meeting was presided over by elderly vice chairman Hafiz Anwar Samavi, as acting chairman could not show up due to illness, he said, adding, Chaudhry Tanvir Ahmed and Khalid Kashmiri, heads of Europe and Middle East zones, respectively, were also among the attendees.
Speaking about the situation in occupied Kashmir, the JKLF spokesperson pointed out that India had turned the whole territory into a military concentration camp, holding people hostage in their homes and cutting off all communication links amid round the clock curfew and crackdowns.
He said JKLF chief Yasin Malik had already been lodged in solitary confinement in the infamous Tihar Jail while Joint Resistance leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq had also been put under house arrest.
Apart from them, dozens of other leaders like Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Asiya Andrabi, Noor Muhammad Kulwal, Dr Fayyaz Ahmed, Mian Abdul Qayyum, Muhammad Yasin Khan, and hundreds of thousands of youth had also been incarcerated in different Indian prisons and torture cells, he added.
Dar recalled that just three days after the Aug 5 Indian move, the JKLF supreme council had decided in principle to hold a peaceful public march and break the LoC in consultation with all AJK based political parties and All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leadership.
He said the same suggestion was put forth by APHC representatives at an all party conference convened by AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider in Kashmir House Islamabad on Aug 9, which not only endorsed it but also made it part of the joint declaration.
“In accordance with that decision, the AJK premier was supposed to fix date and place for the programme and work out strategy for it, but given his indifference and non serious attitude we were forced to take the initiative on our own,” he said.
He said the party had constituted various committees for the success of programme.
These committees would reach out people from all walks of life to garner their support and cooperation for the march.
Responding to a question, Dar said that if the AJK government had any other date before or soon after Oct 4 in its mind for the cross LoC march, the JKLF was ready to readjust the date for a national consensus.
“We are not for a solo flight. We gave this call after waiting for their response for over three weeks,” he said of the AJK government.
The JKLF spokesperson also expressed the hope that the “government [of Pakistan and AJK] would not use force against the peaceful marchers.”
“We want to tell the world that we do not recognise this ill-omened line (LoC) and no law of the world restricts us from moving from one part to the other,” he said, and warned that “the use of force against thousands of marchers would change the situation which we do not want.”
He said people of Pakistan had unconditional love for Kashmir, and therefore he would not say anything as could send a wrong message to them.
Dar said the youth on this side of the divide had great passion to do something for their oppressed brethren in occupied Kashmir.
"The younger generation is looking towards the leaders but unfortunately they are busy in power politics," he said and added: "There is too much rhetoric but as yet no practical step(s) on their part."
He said JKLF had prepared alternatives in the event of being stopped by government, but he could not disclose them before time.
It may be recalled that JKLF had made at least three attempts over the past three decades to cross the LoC.
On Feb 11, 1992, its march had reached Chakothi, where Pakistani law enforcement personnel opened fire to restrict them from getting closer to the dividing line and as a result, 7 people were killed and scores others wounded.
The party announced to resume the “stalled march” on March 30, the same year, but police arrested its leadership, including the then JKLF chairman Amanullah Khan (late), on March 26, and resultantly the announcement could not be actualized.
On Oct 4, 1999, a similar march by JKLF from Hajira sector was stopped by police in the town of Hajira and Mr Khan and other leaders were taken into custody.
Tariq Naqash
No comments:
Post a Comment