A complete shutdown was being observed on Sunday in Indian-occupied Kashmir in protest against Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi’s visit to the occupied territory.
The shutdown call was given by the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) comprising Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik. Modi was expected to visit Srinagar, Ladakh and Jammu to lay foundation stones of several development projects.
The JRL in a statement issued in Srinagar said that five years of Narendra Modi’s rule were marred with tyranny and oppression in occupied Kashmir. It said that a person who in his pursuit to crush Kashmiris’ genuine demand for the right to self-determination ordered killings, arrests, destruction of properties and other oppressive tactics deserved to be welcomed only with protest.
Meanwhile, the occupation authorities have beefed up the so-called security across occupied Kashmir ahead of Narendra Modi’s visit by deploying Indian police and troops in strength in Srinagar, Jammu and other areas.
The troops and police personnel after setting up security check-points in different areas are conducting thorough checking and frisking of vehicles and commuters.
The authorities have also put Hurriyat leaders including Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai, Mukhtar Ahmed Waza and Hilal Ahmed War under house arrest or in custody to prevent them from leading anti-India demonstrations on Narendra Modi’s visit.
The authorities have also confined the Chairman of Awami Ittehad Party, Engineer Abdur Rasheed, to his residence.
The Chairman of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Gilani, in a statement in Srinagar paid glowing tributes to the two youth martyred by Indian troops in Pulwama district, yesterday. He said that the Indian oppression had left the Kashmiri youth with no other option than resisting India’s military and forcible occupation of their homeland.
Several people including a woman were injured after Indian troops used brute force on peaceful demonstrators who were protesting against a cordon and search operation by the Indian forces in Tral town, today.
Ruwa Shah, the daughter of illegally detained Hurriyat leader, Altaf Ahmed Shah, in a statement to the media said that the health condition of her father had deteriorated due to denial of proper medical care to him by the authorities of New Delhi’s Tihar Jail, despite court orders.
On the other hand, the UK has rejected India’s request to disallow holding of the proposed hosting of Pakistan-backed conference on Kashmir in British Parliament in London on Monday.
A spokesperson of British High Commission in New Delhi told India Today that UK Members of Parliament are independent of government and it is for individual members to decide who they meet and for what purpose.
The conference being organised in the House of Commons by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Pakistan is aimed at highlighting the Kashmir dispute and the grave human rights violations being perpetrated by Indian troops in occupied Kashmir.
