The Joint Resistance Leadership comprising Syed Ali Geelani,Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik on Friday said they have seriousapprehensions that the Articles 35A and 370 might be removed in a “dramaticmanner” in the days ahead because of the “way authoritarian announcements arebeing made at night”.
In a statement, the JRL said that despite being under arrestor house arrest, and in a difficult situation, they were “in touch with varioussegments of society, including the bar association, traders, civil society andothers to see how this assault will be resisted collectively by the people”.
“People have to be vigilant and ready to defend this greatassault against us as it is a matter of our very existence. It’s a do-or-diefor Kashmiris who have staked all in the last 70 years of our struggle forself-determination, having made tremendous sacrifices. We cannot let thesacrifices go in vain,” the leadership said.
The JRL strongly condemned government of India’s”authoritarian and arbitrary decision” to ban Jamaat-e-Islami, J&K, after acrackdown on its cadres.
“Jamaat-e-Islami has been running many schools andeducational institutions across the Valley as a socio-religious organisationfor decades. Post-Pulwama attack there has been a deliberate attempt to avengeKashmiris in the form of attacks on students studying outside, mass arrests andcrackdown, raids on homes of leadership and people across the Valley besidesbanning organisations and fiddling with Articles 35A and 370,” the leadershipsaid.
“All this is being undertaken by the rulers in New Delhi ina sweeping and muscular manner by continuing with their Kashmir doctrine offorce, to be seen as being tough on Kashmir and fulfilling their agenda over itto woo and consolidate their voters for electoral gains,” the JRL statementread.
The statement said the ongoing India-Pakistan “escalationhas once again confirmed to the world that unless the basic dispute of Kashmiris resolved, the world is in imminent danger that a nuclear war can flare-upanytime between the two nuclear neighbours”.
“The world has to wake up to this reality and pressuriseIndia and Pakistan to talk and resolve the issue if it wants to avoid thedanger of a war,” the leadership said.
They said that “ours is a genuine and just strugglerecognised by the international community and begging a resolution for the past70 years”.
“Instead, we are being oppressed and intimidated,” thestatement said, condemning the authorities for stopping people from offeringFriday prayers at Jamia Masjid Srinagar.