Reacting to the Army Chief General Bipin Rawat’s statement telling the Kashmiri youth that “Azadi is not possible and it will never happen and that they cannot fight Indian armed forces”, the pro-resistance leaders and organizations today termed it ‘provocative’, ‘self-contradictory’ and ‘illogical’.
JKLF
The incarcerated chairman of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Muhammad Yasin Malik, while reacting to the statement, said, “If assertions of Indian army chief regarding Azadi contained any ingredient of reality, more than half of the world including India would have been still reeling under foreign occupations today.”
“General Rawat needs to revisit basic historical facts before issuing such threats to a nation that has resolved to achieve freedom from Indian control. From boasting about Indian military might to talk of trains, fruit business and tourism, General Rawat wants Kashmiris to surrender before Indian might without even realizing that many Generals before him failed to achieve this wishful goal despite using all their military might and deceitful political and diplomatic games,” a spokesman of the JKLF, in a statement today, quoted Yasin Malik as having said in his statement for media from Police Station Kothibagh here, terming Bipin Rawat’s statement as ‘self-contradictory and most illogical’.
He said, “Our reply to General Rawat is same that was given by Ghandi Jee to a British envoy who had posed same type of question to him that how can poor Indian fight British military might and survive as an independent state without British help, Ghandi had replied that he would prefer a non-competent poor independent country over a competent and wealthy illegal occupation and slavery.”
JKLF chairman said, “Throughout history we see imperialist powers using same language of intimidation against subjugated nations like Bipin Rawat is using against Kashmiris but the same history stands as a witness that it were not Hitler, Mussolini, Halakoo, Radovan Karadžic, Slobodan Miloševic and tyrants like these who triumphed in struggle between powerful and powerless but the oppressed who had the last laugh.”
He said, “Sooner or later India has to free Jammu Kashmir from its illegal control as it is the truth that prevails at the end not the military might which General Sahib is boasting about.”
He said, “From 1947 till date, Indian army and forces have killed hundreds of thousands in Kashmir. Only during last three decades more than one hundred thousand people have been massacred by Indian forces. Thousands have disappeared in their custody, while as thousands of unmarked graves, hundreds of women whose chastity was attacked by Indian forces, thousands of custodial killings, burning down and blasting of properties worth billions, thousands whose eyesight have been snatched and thousands who have been jailed and tortured are all witness to use of brutal force by India.”
“Bipin Rawat Jee is threatening Kashmiris of much more force but he needs to know that this is actually unmasking his countries so-called biggest democracy claims. He must know that British committed only one Jalyanwala massacre throughout the 200 year long Indian freedom struggle but after his assuming charge of Indian army, his men in uniform have committed many such massacres in Kashmir,” Yasin Malik said.
The JKLF chairman said, “Kashmiris have resolved to free their nation from illegal control and it is our pledge that we win or die but will never surrender before the might of India.”
Hurriyat Conference (M)
Reacting to the Army Chief ‘s statement, the Hurriyat Conference (M) spokesman said, “Would the head of the British forces who colonized integrated India and ruled it for more than 100 years killing thousands of Indians and committing massacres like Jallianwala Bagh ever concede that Indians will get freedom?”
“The then British forces like the Indian forces of today had all the means and methods to keep India occupied. But yet they had to abdicate because the will and desire of people to be free to choose their destiny and be masters of their fate is far stronger than every military power,” the spokesman, in a statement today, said.
“Indian army chief needs to ask his political bosses some basic question like, why does a regular army need to be stationed here in such huge numbers? Why are people supporting and sacrificing their life for young boys who leave bright careers and pick up arms? Why the educated boys who know the strength and number of the forces still choose to take this path? Why are his men being made the cannon fodder and paying the price with their life in an issue which is not militaristic in nature?,” the spokesman said, adding that “The army chief acknowledges that killing one resistance youth with arms will make ten others pick it up.”
He said, “His threat that to bomb us like Syria is real but so is the resilience of people to stand by their commitment to achieve the universal right to freedom and self determination for which they have been consistently struggling for the last 70 years. Army chiefs come and go. But the commitment made by both Indian and Pakistani leadership at the UN and ratified by the world to the people of Kashmir stands and gives the current situation its context.”
It said: “The Kashmir conflict is a real political and humanitarian problem and can be addressed politically and with compassion. Military solution will only make it more chronic.”
DFP
Reacting to the Army chief’s statement, the Jammu Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) termed it as “provocative”.
“It is unfortunate that the confrontational statement has been issued by General Rawat at a time when even pro-India political parties have started understanding the sensitivity of Kashmir issue. The statement is in contrast to his last one where he had said that issues must be resolved mutually. People like General Rawat will see the success of Kashmiri people with their eyes. The history bears witness to the fact that just movements have always achieved success against mightiest military powers of the world and General Rawat must read the freedom struggle of its own country,” a spokesman of the DFP, in a statement today, said.
He said, “The DFP strongly believes that day is not far when India has to accept the ground realities of the Kashmir dispute and come forward with a political resolution.”