Different pro-resistance leaders and parties have paid glowing tributes to the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militant Hilal Ahmed Rather who was slain today in a gunfight with the forces at Ratnipora in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
Paying rich tributes to the slain militant, Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman Syed Ali Geelani, in a statement said, “everyday our youth are sacrificing their precious lives for the sacred cause making all of us duty bound to safeguard these sacrifices with utmost commitment and dedication to pursue this cause.”
Geelani said, “Delhi is suffering from arrogance of power and has tried its best to muzzle our voice but has utterly failed to do so. It’s might, its brutality can never deter us from our much cherished goal of right to self-determination.”
He said, “The situation in the Valley is worsening with each passing day and authorities are just relying on their military might to suppress people’s aspirations and muzzle voices.”
“The stubborn attitude of India regarding this globally accepted political dispute and dealing with it only militarily has created death and destruction in whole state and peace and harmony of whole region is threatened. With the resolution of this issue a new era of peace, stability and development will prevail not only in Jammu and Kashmir but in whole South Asia,” Geelani said.
Hurriyat Conference (M), while paying glowing tributes to slain militant, in a statement said, “The educated youth of Kashmir are being pushed to wall leaving them with no choice other than to pick up arms.”
Urging world community to take stock of the prevailing situation in Kashmir, the spokesman said, “Entire Kashmir has been turned into a military fortress and Kashmir is witnessing killings of young and educated boys everyday while as youth are also harassed, detained with the leadership caged in jails or in their own homes. This all stands as an eye opener for the world community about the ultimate oppression being unleashed across the length and breadth of the Valley.”
“Kashmiri people are sacrificing their lives for the right to self determination and that ploys are being implemented to damage and muzzle our genuine struggle,” the spokesman said, adding that “Kashmir is witnessing military operation every day in the guise of CASO under which people of all ages are subjected to harassment and kept out of their homes in bone chilling cold for hours together. The frequent curbs on the resistance leadership who are not even allowed to mourn the killings of innocent youth stands an eye opener for the world community.”
Tehreek-e-Hurriyat (TeH) chairman Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai, while paying rich tributes to the slain militant, expressed pain and grief and prayed for the forbearance and patience of the bereaved family.
“The great sacrifices shall accrue results. Continued atrocities by forces can never suppress just political struggle for their legitimate right of self determination. The supreme sacrifices of our sons are not only painful but the biggest human investment of ongoing struggle. The priceless sacrifices of Kashmiri youth will always be safeguarded,” Sehrai said in a statement.
He said, “Forces and the government in Kashmir have been stifling the voice of Kashmiris, committing all sorts of atrocities and repressions against us but gallant people of Jammu and Kashmir are offering exemplary resistance for their cause. The Kashmir struggle has entered into a new phase.”
Muslim League (ML) Jammu Kashmir, headed by incarcerated senior leader Masarat Alam Bhat, while paying rich tributes to the slain militant, said, “The supreme sacrifices being offered by our youth will not go waste. These will very soon bear the desired fruit.”
The ML general secretary Muhammad Rafiq Ganai, according to ML statement, led the funeral prayers of the slain militants and addressed the mourners.