Srinagar, July 25 (KMS): In occupied Kashmir, complete shutdown was observed, today, to protest against the arrest of Hurriyat leaders by Indian authorities.
Call for the shutdown was given by the joint resistance leadership comprising Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik to register protest against the revengeful, arbitrary and illegal arrest of Hurriyat leaders. All shops, business establishments and educational institutions remained closed while traffic was off the road.
The puppet authorities had imposed strict restrictions and deployed Indian troops and police personnel in strength in Srinagar to prevent people from staging demonstrations against the arrest of Hurriyat leaders. The authorities kept Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Muhammad Yasin Malik and other Hurriyat leaders under house arrest or in custody to prevent them from leading the demonstrations.
The Indian National Investigation Agency had arrested Hurriyat leaders Altaf Ahmad Shah, Merajuddin Kalwal, Peer Saifullah, Ayaz Muhammad Akbar, Shahid-ul-Islam and Nayeem Ahmed Khan from Srinagar and Farooq Ahmed Dar from New Delhi. The NIA officials produced them at Patiala House Court in New Delhi, today, and sought 10 days remand.
Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik in a statement in Srinagar strongly denounced the arrests by the NIA. They said that these leaders who had been at the forefront of the people’s movement and had tirelessly worked for the Kashmir cause were being persecuted and targeted for their political ideology and principles. The resistance leaders said that absolutely no evidence was found against the arrestees in connection with false cases registered against them and they had been arrested as per the pre-meditated plan of the Indian government as the NIA had repeatedly told them that they would be arrested sooner or later as the Indian authorities had decided to do so.
The High Court Bar Association of occupied Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party and Hurriyat leaders, Farida Bahenji and Barrister Abdul Majeed Tramboo, in their statements issued in Srinagar said that the sole purpose of these arrests was to terrorize and force the pro-freedom leaders to give up their efforts for achieving the legitimate right of self-determination for the people of Kashmir.
The puppet authorities have booked the illegally detained APHC leader, Ghulam Muhammad Khan Sopori, under draconian law, Public Safety Act, one more time. The 70-year-old leader has been lodged in Kot Bhalwal jail in Jammu for the past over five months.
