Srinagar, June 27: The Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Muhammad Yasin Malik on Wednesday strongly condemned, what he said, murderous assault on Hurriyat Conference senior leaders: Shabir Ahmad Shah and Nayeem Ahmad Khan, at Khanyar here following the heart rending incident of the martyrdom of the shrine of Dastgeer Sahib (RA) on Monday, terming it (assault) a cowardly act by the miscreants.
 “Such an assault is intolerable and those involved in this dastardly act should be exposed and brought to justice,” said Malik, in a statement.
 “Pro-freedom leaders and activists represent the peoples’ sentiments and feelings and only anti-movement elements could alone misbehave with them. It is fortunate that both Shah and Khan escaped the murderous assault,” he said.
 Meanwhile, Malik described the gutting of 350 year old Dastgeer Sahib (RA) shrine as an irreparable loss for Muslims of Kashmir. He alleged that the spiritual centres with which the peoples’ faith and beliefs are associated are not provided due protection and “as a result of this negligence we have been deprived of one more spiritual centre”.
 Malik said it was imperative to know the cause of fire and how it instantly engulfed the whole shrine. “For this purpose all the Ulema and civil society members together need to rise above their Maslaki affiliations and start a thorough investigation into the incident to prevent the occurrence of such unfortunate incidents in future,” he said, appealing to the people to stay united like a cemented wall at this hour of profound grief and sorrow to foil the nefarious designs of divisive forces.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 27 Jun 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 27 Jun 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 28 Jun 2012 00:00:00 IST