Thousands attend Gilani's rally in India held-Kashmir
Pakistan Times Monitoring Report

SRINAGAR (IHK): Thousands of supporters turned out Sunday for a rally by Hurriyat Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Geelani, who vowed to continue the struggle until the territory is merged with Pakistan.

“Today I vow before you that the ongoing struggle (against Indian rule) will be taken to its logical conclusion,” 73-year-old Gilani told an estimated 50,000 supporters at the rally in Srinagar.

Paralysing Protest Strike

Geelani supports the merger of India held-Kashmir with Pakistan. “We will achieve our goal if we strictly follow Islam,” said Geelani, who heads the hardline faction of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference [APHC] to a paralysing protest strike against the Indian Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the death sentence of a Kashmiri youth, awarded to him by a subordinate court, in a cooked up case.

The Indian court convicted another Kashmiri to 10-years rigorous imprisonment in the same case.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq

Kashmir Media Service reports that the call for the strike has been given by Chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Head of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Mohammad Yasin Malik.

All shops, bazaars, business centres, schools and colleges, courts and government and semi-government offices will remain closed and transport will be off the road.

The strike is intended to attract attention of the world’s human rights and humanitarian organisations to the Indian Supreme Courts’ decision, which is generally considered as a blatant example of political victimisation of innocent Kashmiris, in a fabricated case.

In-depth

In occupied Kashmir, complete protest strike will be observed on Monday against upholding by the Indian Supreme Court of awarding death sentence to a Kashmiri by a subordinate court, and 10-years vigorous imprisonment term to another Kashmiri in a false case of so-called attack on the Indian Parliament on 13 December, 2001.

The call for the strike has been given by various liberation circles including the Chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the Head of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Mohammad Yasin Malik, the Jammu and Kashmir Bar Association and chairperson of Kashmir Mass Movement Farida Behanji.

All shops, bazaars, business centers, schools and colleges, courts and govt and semi-government offices will remain closed and transport will be off the road.

The strike is intended to attract attention of the world human rights organisations to the Indian Supreme Courts’ decision, which is generally considered as a blatant example of political victimization of innocent Kashmiris, in the fabricated case.

In Srinagar, Sunday, a big gathering was held, marking first foundation anniversary of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Jammu and Kashmir, led by senior Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Gilani. The ailing leader was brought to the gathering from a Srinagar hospital to deliver his address.

He emphasized that Kashmiris will not rest content till they achieve their right to self-determination. A resolution adopted at the gathering urged India to withdraw its armed forces from occupied Kashmir, recognize Kashmir as a disputed territory, revoke all draconian laws and release all Kashmiri detainees including those, who have been sentenced to death or life imprisonment, in false cases.

Five Kashmiri youth Martyred

Meanwhile, In occupied Kashmir, the Indian troops in their fresh acts of state terrorism, martyred five Kashmiri youth, and destroyed a residential house at different places.

Indian troops during siege and search operations destroyed a residential house of Alam Din Chat, by heavy firing and mortar shells at Rajwar in Handwara area. Three dead bodies were recovered in the debris, Kashmir Media Service reported.

Two more youth were shot dead by troops in a fake encounter at Wavan Bahek in Bandipore area. A woman was killed and four others injured in a grenade blast near Gujjar Hostel in Doda town.

Unidentified gunmen shot dead one person at Sopore bus stand and a woman was also injured in the shoot out, and was hospitalized.●