Pro-Kashmir rally taken out in Washington
Srinagar, May 23 (KMS): In occupied Kashmir, massive protests by students against the illegal Indian occupation and brutalities of forces continued in Pulwama, Srinagar and other parts of the territory, today.
Students of Government Higher Secondary School, Pulwama, took to the streets to protest against the arrest of schoolmates during nocturnal raids by police on their houses last night. The protests were marked by violent clashes between protesting students and Indian forces. A motorbike was set ablaze as the clashes spread across the main town. The students of Kashmir University also held protest demonstrations in university campus against the arrest of a fellow student, Tahir Hussain Mir under draconian law, Public Safety Act. The student protesters raising pro-freedom slogans demanded the release of the detained student.
Eminent speakers at a book release ceremony in Srinagar said that the present people’s uprising in Kashmir is a continuation of incidents that occurred way back in 1930s. The book ‘Khwaab, Azzab aur Sarab’, a collection of essays on Kashmir, is authored by late Pir Muhammad Afzal Mukhdoomi.
Senior Hurriyet leader, Professor Abdul Ghani Butt while speaking at a function in Kupwara in an apparent reference to India’s Kashmir policy said that there was no scope for the politics of hatred and policy of military might, rigidity and stubbornness in the changing global scenario. Another Hurriyet leader, Bilal Ghani Lone said that being primary stakeholders the Kashmiris should be involved in any process of settlement of the Kashmir dispute.
In utter disrespect to human rights, the Indian army officer, Major Leetul Gogoi, who tied a Kashmiri youth to a jeep as a human shield in Badgam, last month, has been awarded Indian Army Chief’s Commendation Card. The officer was awarded by Indian Army Chief, General Bipin Rawat, during his recent visit to occupied Kashmir. Hurriyet leaders, Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Muhammad Yasin Malik and Shabbir Shah in their statements said that the move proved that it was not an act of individual but a part of state policy being pursued by India in Kashmir.
On the other hand, hundreds of Kashmiri Americans from various states of the United States staged a huge rally in front of the White House in Washington demanding of the United Nations to take steps towards granting the people of Jammu and Kashmir their right to self-determination. The demonstrators raising pro-Kashmir slogans held candle light vigil on the sidewalk of the White House. The Chairman of All Parties Hurriyet Conference, Syed Ali Gilani and JKLF Chief Muhammad Yasin Malik addressed the participants of the rally over phone from Srinagar. Others who spoke on the occasion included former AJK Prime Minister Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhary, Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, Dr Imtiaz Khan and Sardar Zulfikhar Khan.
Meanwhile, as per Indian media, the Canadian authorities have denied a retired senior Indian CRPF officer, Tejinder Singh Dhillon, entry at Vancouver airport, because immigration authorities deemed him to have served a government that engages in terrorism, systematic or gross human rights violations or genocide.
