Jailed Hurriyat leadership slams sham elections in IIOJK as farce, military drill
#ElectionsUnderOccuaption
Srinagar: The top jailed Hurriyat leadership has strongly condemned the upcoming elections in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir, calling them a “facade” and an “attempt to legitimize New Delhi’s illegal occupation.”
According to Kashmir Media Service, All Parties Hurriyat Conference Chairman Masarrat Aalam Butt and Democratic Freedom Party chief Shabbir Ahmad Shah in their messages from New Delhi’s Tihar Jail, said the elections in IIOJK, held under the shadow of over a million Indian occupation troops, are nothing more than a farce and a military exercise.
“The post-2019 changes in IIOJK aim to reshape the territory’s electoral and demographic landscape, stripping IIOJK of genuine political representation,” said Masarrat Aalam Butt.
The APHC chairman added, “The manipulative electoral reforms in IIOJK, including the expansion of LG powers and voting rights for outsiders, further disenfranchise the people of IIOJK and undermine the authority of any future elected government.”
The Hurriyat leaders also criticized the 2020 gerrymandering in IIOJK, saying it aimed to dilute Muslim political influence and marginalize Muslim voices.
Shabbir Ahmad Shah said, “The new domicile laws and electoral changes threaten the demographic fabric of IIOJK, reflecting the Modi government’s agenda to alter the territory’s identity.”
“Polls in IIOJK cannot replace true self-determination for Kashmiris. The Modi government’s electoral tactics in IIOJK are aimed at legitimizing the occupation, but they will not succeed,” he added.
The leaders stressed that elections under occupation in IIOJK are widely seen as a strategy to mask state-led repression and legitimize the 2019 illegal abrogation.
