MIRPUR (AJK)-People across Azad Jammu & Kashmir Monday observed 35th martyrdom anniversary of eminent leader of Kashmir Freedom Movement Muhammad Maqbool Butt with the renewal of the pledge to continue mission the martyr till achievement of the Kashmiris legitimate right to self-determination.
Processions were taken out and rallies held in all small and major towns of AJK to pay glorious tribute to Shaheed Maqbool Butt who was put to gallows by India this day in New Delhi’s Tihar Jail in 1984 for his “offence” of demanding birth right to self-determination for the people of Jammu Kashmir state under the spirit of the international norms and commitments to this direction.
According to host organisations which arranged special functions in Mirpur Monday to observe the anniversary of one of the founding leaders of the Kashmir freedom struggle, a joint demonstration was staged coupled with a big procession taken out by various social, political and student organisations including Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Conference, Jammu Kashmir Plebiscite Front, Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, Jammu Kashmir National Students Federation, J and K Students Liberation Front and other groups, to pay glorious tributes to the eminent hero of the Kashmir Freedom struggle.
A large number of people from all walks of life marched through major city roads and streets chanting anti-India and pro-freedom slogans besides eulogising the supreme sacrifices rendered by Maqbool Butt, Dr Afzal Guru and other Kashmiri martyrs.
The procession converged into a mammoth rally at central Shaheed chowk. Addressing the rally speakers including Jammu Kashmir Plebiscite Front’s leaders including former President Muhammad Azeem Dutt Advocate, Mirza Sideeque, Baniya Amin Insari, Sohail Shaheen Khawaja, JKLF leaders - Saad Insari Advocate and Khawaja Pervez Iqbal and others paid rich tributes to Maqbool Butt for rendering supreme sacrifice for the cause of liberation of Jammu and Kashmir from the Indian yoke. Speakers reiterated Kashmiris resolve to continue their mission for bringing the Kashmir freedom struggle to its logical end.
Speakers called upon the international community to exert pressure on India to immediately handover the mortal remains of Maqbool Butt Shaheed to his family members and friends for its proper burial with traditional religious respect and honour.
Speakers said that Maqbool Butt’s martyrdom day of February 11, 1984 is the blackest day in the history of Kashmir Freedom movement when on this day India deprived Kashmiris of a great hero of their just and principled freedom struggle. They said that sacrifice by Maqbool Butt infused a new spirit and resolve among Kashmiris to accelerate their struggle for the achievement of their fundamental right to self-determination constantly being denied by India since last 72 years.
Speakers said “best way to pay rich tribute to late Maqbool Butt is to continue mission of the departed founding leader of the freedom struggle till the achievement of the goal”. They said that the supreme sacrifice of Shaheed Maqbool Butt is the beacon light for Kashmiri people in their indigenous struggle for freedom.
“Paying rich tribute to Kashmiri freedom-fighter Muhammad Afzal Guru, hanged in New Delhi’s Tihar jail few years ago, speakers stated that Guru was wrongly implicated in the case as he was already behind the bars in the Indian prison on the day of alleged attack on the Indian parliament’s building in New Delhi in 2001”.
Speakers called upon the International court of justice to institute an inquiry commission to probe into judicial murder of Afzal Guru. They urged upon the United Nations as well as International Human Rights Organisations, especially the Amnesty International to immediately move against the continued genocide of the innocent Kashmiris in Indian-held Kashmir.
Speakers lamented India for constantly acting upon her traditional policy of deviation and stubbornness with the ulterior motives to continue depriving Kashmiris of their birth right to self-determination. They demanded inclusion of Jammu Kashmir people, major party to the Kashmir dispute, in the dialogue between India and Pakistan for the early peaceful resolution of Kashmir issue according to their (Kashmiris) aspirations. They reminded the UN of its due responsibility to play its due role for early peaceful settlement of the Kashmir problem according to the wishes of Jammu and Kashmir people with the special attention to save the region from the threat of any nuclear Indo-Pak conflict.
They also demanded immediate handing over of the mortal remains of both shaheed Maqbool Butt and Afzal Guru to their families for burial in their ancestral grave yards in occupied Kashmir valley.
Earlier, a large number of the activists of JKNLF, JKLF, Plebiscite Front, NSF and other social and political organisations took out a torch-bearing procession at Shaheed chowk the other night to eulogize the contribution of the martyred Kashmiri leader to freedom struggle. The participants of the rally light candles of freedom in memory of the Kashmiri martyrs coupled with the renewal of the pledge to continue the mission of late Maqbool Butt, Afzal Guru and other Kashmiri martyrs to make the Kashmir freedom struggle a complete success.