The Joint Resistance Leadership comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik Monday said they are in constant touch with the Kashmir high court bar association as the crucial hearing of Article 35-A is again scheduled for February 20 and 21.
In a statement, the JRL said the list of cases being heard “comes to fore in the evening a day before a case is listed for hearing, so whenever the case challenging the hereditary state subject law (Article 35A) that has a direct bearing on the Kashmir dispute comes up for hearing before the supreme court, people will observe a complete protest strike”.
The shutdown on the day the case (about Article 35 A) is heard by the Supreme Court should send a clear message to entire India that any attempt to tamper with the J&K’s citizenship rights would not be tolerated, come what may, the statement read.
“A series of petitions filed by BJP/RSS activists before the Supreme Court is actually a move to change the demography of the state by allowing non-state residents to settle down here and change its Muslim majority character, an eyesore for communally-minded outfits (sic). This illegal and immoral plan in a place that is a world-acknowledged dispute where people are struggling for the past 70 years for its just resolution, will be resisted by one and all with full might and determination, and at all cost (sic),” the statement read.
Asserting that “no power on earth can force Kashmiris into submission and make them to give up there legitimate and principled demand”, the JRL said people of Kashmir “have especially shown this in the past 30 years by standing up to one of the worst state oppressions in the world”.
The JRL statement read that the “initial sell out and constant compromise by the regional pro-India parties who are the collaborators with New Delhi have brought the situation to a point where the fate of disputed J&K is in jeopardy, leaving people with no option other than to hit the streets and agitate strongly to safeguard whatever little exists”.
The JRL said that “people should brace themselves and be ready to launch an assertive campaign united with all on board. It’s an issue of our very existence”.