Srinagar, May 14: The chairman of Hurriyat Conference (G) Syed Ali Shah Geelani has thanked the people for observing shutdown to press for release of political detainees, saying that no political process was possible in Kashmir until their release.
 “The Hurriyat will continue its campaign until all the detainees are released and arrest drive is stopped,” said Geelani, according to a Hurriyat statement, clarifying that, “Our movement is purely peaceful. When we use word peaceful it means peaceful without any ambiguity, political gimmick or deceit.”
 Geelani also clarified that talks between India and Pakistan would be a meaningless exercise and the atmosphere could not become conducive for any political process in Kashmir unless all political detainees were released.
 “From Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram to interlocutors all repeated their assurances about the release of prisoners but nothing came out till date. It clearly proves that New Delhi has not as yet learnt any lesson from history. If Kashmir problem could be solved with arrests and detentions, it would have been solved long back. But by doing it India has achieved nothing but infamy. By putting people behind the bars for their political ideology, India is belying its own claims of democracy,” said Geelani, appealing to the functionaries of Amnesty International, Asia Watch and International Red Cross to take serious note of the plight of Kashmiri detainees and exert pressure on India for their release.
 Reacting to the police charge that wherever he goes incidents of stone pelting take place there, Geelani said by issuing such statements police was trying to justify their ‘hooliganism.’
 “Wherever I visit, I repeat my appeal to people to desist from stone pelting. But the fact remains that the police compels the people to hurl stones. When I leave any place after addressing the people, the police chase them without any rhyme or reason and use indiscriminate force against them without any provocation.
 Geelani said that no unpleasant incident would take place anywhere as long as police acted in a "civilized way and shunned the harassment of youth unjustifiably".

Lastupdate on : Sat, 14 May 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 14 May 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 15 May 2011 00:00:00 IST