Strict curfew continues in IIOJ&K on third consecutive day

SRINAGAR: In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K), the authorities continued to clamp strict curfews on the third straight day, Saturday, to prevent people from conducting a march towards Hyderpora area of Srinagar to pay tributes to the veteran Hurriyat leader and an icon of Kashmir freedom movement, Syed Ali Geelani, Kashmir Media Service reported.

Call for the march was given by the All Parties Hurriyat Conference to protest the custodial death of Syed Ali Geelani. The veteran leader, who had been kept under continued house arrest by the occupation authorities since 2010, breathed his last on Wednesday night.

Thousands of Indian troops deployed in every nook and corner of the occupied territory continue to keep millions of Kashmiris confined to their homes. All roads leading to Syed Ali Geelani’s Hyderpora residence remain sealed with barricades and barbed wires.

Mobile internet service also remains suspended to stop people from sharing information about the prevailing situation of the occupied territory.

The APHC spokesman in a statement issued in Srinagar, Saturday, expressed gratitude to the people and Government of Pakistan for showing complete solidarity with the people of IIOJ&K in offering funeral prayers in absentia across the country for the veteran Hurriyat leader.

He also thanked the government and the people of Pakistan for their firm stand at the international level on the issue of freedom of Jammu and Kashmir from Indian illegal occupation.

The Chairman of Hurriyat forum, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who is under house detention since August 2019, spoke to the sons of Syed Ali Geelani over telephone and condoled the sad demise of their father.

He condemned the authorities for not allowing the family members and people to attend the funeral prayers of the veteran leader.

Senior Hurriyat leader, Professor Abdul Ghani Butt, addressing a condolence meeting in Srinagar said that Syed Ali Gilani in itself was a movement who made great services and sacrifices for the freedom movement all along his life.

Hurriyat leaders and organizations including Devinder Singh Behl, Hilal Ahmad War, Democratic Freedom Party, Jammu and Kashmir Peoples League and Jammu and Kashmir Young Mens League in their statements denounced the continued curfew and illegal detention of Hurriyat leaders and activists by the authorities.

On the other hand, the President of Malaysian Consultative Council of Islamic Organisations, Mohammad Azmi Abdul Hamid in a statement issued in Kuala Lumpur termed the death of Syed Ali Gilani a great loss for the Kashmir cause. He hailed the veteran Hurriyat leader as a great inspiration for all Kashmiris.

Kashmiri woman Hurriyat leader, Shamim Shawl, at a ceremony held in Brussels was given the European International Women’s Leadership Award by the Forum International Du Leadership Féminin for her work for highlighting the plight of the people of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The European International Women’s leadership Award was given to seven women hailing from different parts of the world for their outstanding and exceptional human rights work.