Srinagar, Aug 31: Throwing the ball in New Delhi’s court, the chairman of Hurriyat Conference (G) Syed Ali Shah Geelani Tuesday set five ‘minimum’ conditions for reviewing the ongoing protest agitation.
The veteran leader who is spearheading the ongoing ‘Quit Jammu and Kashmir Movement,’ threatened to intensify the agitation if New Delhi does not immediately implement the conditions including start of demilitarization, revocation of special powers to armed forces and release of political prisoners.
Geelani also sought a guarantee from Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh that no further killings or arrest will take place in the Valley and also demanded conviction, under war crimes, of troopers and policemen involved in the 65 killings since June 11.
“If the international community is serious over the ground situation in Kashmir, we urge it to persuade India to create conditions necessary for peace and resolution of the dispute. We want to maintain that the beginning to the resolution is to bring an end to Indian oppression,” Geelani told a crowded press conference at his Hyderpora residence here.
Elaborating, Geelani said India must accept Jammu and Kashmir as an international dispute and begin the process of complete demilitarization to be monitored by some credible agency like UN.
“Indian Prime Minister must commit publicly and ensure practically that henceforth no killings and no arrests shall take place. He should also discipline the troopers and order them to stop humiliating people, destroying public and private property,” he said.
He also demanded that India should revoke the special powers like Armed Forces Special Powers Act, Pubic Safety Act and unconditionally release the youth, teenagers and political prisoners besides withdrawing the cases against youth pending in the courts for past 20 years.
“The process of punishing the perpetrators of state violence has to begin with the conviction of troops and policemen responsible for recent 65 civilians. It must be followed by conviction of all those responsible for war crimes in Jammu & Kashmir,” he said.
Geelani said if the five conditions are implemented on ground in letter and spirit, they will facilitate the creation of conductive atmosphere. “It will also enable Jammu & Kashmir leadership to meet, consult and consolidate public opinion for the peaceful resolution of Kashmir dispute in accordance with the democratic principle of right to self-determination,” he said.
However, Geelani maintained that “as our liberty, honour, future cannot wait endlessly for these measures to be implemented by India, therefore we urge Indian leadership to end oppression and implement these measures immediately so that the current campaign of mass protests can be reviewed. In the meanwhile, all prisoners must be released before Eid,” he said.
“If India fails to fulfil these minimum necessary conditions required for peace and resolution immediately, the program of ongoing mass protests would be intensified,” Geelani warned.
Geelani said in response to the recent killings, people of Jammu Kashmir have been resorting to sustained and peaceful mass protests. “This non-violent uprising has again been confronted with killings of 65 civilians, arrest of more than 2000 civilians, injuries to more than 3000 civilians, torture of hundreds of youths, destruction of private houses and vehicles, etc. The victims of state terrorism include 8-year old Sameer Ahmad Rah to 65-year old and 17-year old Afroza Teli,” he said.
Geelani said amid this continued policy of oppression on ground, Indian leadership has spoken of its willingness to engage in a dialogue with Jammu Kashmir leadership.
“However, as usual with New Delhi, and always absurd, the Indian leadership comes with such a soft talk whenever the streets of Jammu Kashmir are filled with innocent killings. They talk of political engagement when their soldiers have literally gone berserk in Jammu Kashmir, killing, arresting, torturing, injuring, humiliating and destroying us.”
“For the last 63 years, our means of resistance have changed from time to time but the demands of resistance have remained consistently same which is freedom from Indian rule through democratic mechanism of right to self-determination,” he said.
He said the resistance by Kashmiris has been suppressed by India through different tactics. “This has resulted in the killing of 120,137 persons. If we add 5 lakh Muslims who were massacred in Jammu in 1947, the number will swell to over six lakh. Besides there has been disappearance of almost 10,000 people, rape and molestation of thousands of women, incarcerations, torture, extra-judicial murder, humiliations of our people and the destruction of our property worth billions of dollars.”
Geelani strongly condemned the killing of a boy in troopers and police firing in Islamabad and injuries to five youth including two relatives of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik.

CONDITIONS

* India should accept  JK as a dispute

*Start demilitarization, revocation of  AFSPA, PSA

* Guarantee from PM  to stop further killings

* Action against  troopers and  policemen involved  in 65 killings

* Release of political prisoners and youth

Lastupdate on : Mon, 30 Aug 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 30 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:00:00 IST