Srinagar, April 28 (KNO) : Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq strongly condemned the police assault and use of derogatory language against JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik by police at Khanyar when he was on way to Jamia Masjid to lead a peaceful protest stating that police resorted to manhandling and hooliganism against a leader who has prominence across the State for representing peoples aspirations.
The Leadership said that police behavior against JKLF chairman is a clear indication that Kashmir is a police state where police has been given a free hand to run its writ and high handedness and in a situation no Kashmiri is safe. In a joint statement issued here, JRL said when a people's representative like Yasin Malik is manhandled by those who claim to be law enforcers what can a common Kashmiri expect from the police. The leadership said that Malik was on way to lead a protest called by the JRL but his vehicle was stopped and he was dragged, physically assaulted and abused by the policemen at Khanyar by a senior police officer who also spoke venomously and made derogatory remarks on Kashmir's resistance leadership.
The JRL said that today’s incident at Khanyar makes it clear that police is following the RSS diktats and the policy of repression to muzzle the genuine voices in Kashmir and their aspirations. Meanwhile despite the assault on the JKLF chief, many JRL leaders and activists assembled outside Jamia Masjid to stage a peaceful protest. The protestors protested against killing of Kashmiri boys by forces, use of brute force against students by police and other forces and the illegal detention of dozens of resistance leaders by NIA. The protestors raised slogans against a reign of terror unleashed by the government forces across Kashmir. The protestors strongly denounced the huge deployment of forces around educational institutions and use of pellets, teargas and pava shells against peaceful protesting students across Kashmir.
The protestors said police and other government forces have choked every space for the peaceful protest and a military approach was followed to force the people into a submission. They said youth are pushed to the wall due to the iron fist policy of the ruling regime which is highly condemnable. The protestors while terming the arrests made by NIA and ED totally unjustified demanded the immediate release of Shabir Shah, Altaf Fantosh, Advocate Shahidul Islam, Ayaz Akbar, Peer Saifullah, Mehrajudin Kalwal, Shahid Yousuf, Farooq Dar, Nayeem Khan, Zahoor Watali.
The JRL said the detention of these leaders is illegal and that they should be released forthwith. Those who participated in the protest include Gh Nabi Zaki, Sheikh Abdur Rashid, Umar Adil, Hakeem Abdur Rashid, Abdur Rashid Untoo, Gh Nabi Najar, Mushtaq Ah Sufi, Muhammad Shafi Khan, Muhammad Saleem Zargar, Muhammad Yousuf Naqash, Muhammad Yousuf Attai, Jaffar Kashmiri, Sahil War, Zahoor Ah Bhat, Prof Qudus, Muhammad Sidiq Hazar, Farooq Ahmed Sheikh and others.