Dialogue and HR violations cant go together: Mirwaiz

SRINAGAR (Agencies) - Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Chairman of the moderate APHC group, said here on Monday that human rights violations and the dialogue process cannot go on together in Occupied Kashmir, referring to the killing of three civilians in an alleged staged shootout last month. Reacting to the alleged fake shootouts in Machil sector on the Line of Control (LoC) on April 30 in which three local villagers were allegedly framed and killed as suspected freedom fighters, Mirwaiz told a media conference at his partys uptown Rajbagh headquarters on Monday that human rights violations and the dialogue process cannot go on together. If we have to talk about the future of the people, how can that happen once the very lives of the people are threatened here, the Mirwaiz said. Three villagers - Shahzad Ahmad Khan, Riyaz Ahmad Lone and Muhammad Shafi Lone - were killed by the Indian occupation forces in a staged shootout in the Machil sector on the LoC. We will not tolerate the murders of innocent people through fake encounters. An international committee must probe these fake encounters to establish the facts, the Mirwaiz told reporters. We have no faith in Indian investigating agencies and the local police. We have seen how the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) dealt with the Shopian double murder and rape case, he said. Mirwaiz alleged that many local youths had been missing from their homes during recent months and that a probe by an international committee was needed to establish their whereabouts. He also said India was trying to dodge international pressure to begin demilitarisation and the withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). Development, progress and constructing bridges will serve no purpose as long as the future and lives of the Kashmiris are at risk, the Mirwaiz said. Why are the so-called democratic and secular Indian political parties silent at the fake encounters, he asked. He added that in future, Hurriyat leaders would not announce their programmes as the authorities here were putting them under house arrest to scuttle their plans. We will be undertaking surprise visits to meet the people and not announce our programmes ahead as the security forces here put us under house arrest to scuttle our programmes, the Mirwaiz said.

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