Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Muhammad Yasin Malik has paid rich tributes to the JKLF founder Muhammad Maqbool Bhat, who was hanged and buried at Tihar jail on 11 February, 1984.
“Father of Kashmiri nation Muhammad Maqbool Bhat was an ideologue, a statesman, a warrior, a political leader and a diplomat who led Kashmiri nation on all fronts and sacrificed his life for the sacred cause,” Malik said in a statement while paying rich tributes to Bhat on his 35th death anniversary.
Terming the struggle and sacrifice of Mabbool Bhat as “cornerstone of Kashmiri movement” the JKLF chairman, who is in police custody, said, “Muhammad Maqbool Bhat will always remain as a symbol of freedom and liberty not only for Kashmiri nation but for all the nations which are striving for their emancipation. He was not an ordinary person; he was an intellectual who visualized free Jammu and Kashmir and pursued his dream, strived hard for it and sacrificed his life for this righteous cause.”
Maliks aid, “Maqbool Bhat started his struggle as a teenager, continued it during his youthful days, migrated for the righteous cause and returned to his mother land not once but twice notwithstanding the apprehensions of gallows waiting for him. As a student Maqbool was foremost, as a youth he stood in the first line, as a warrior he chose to lead from front and when it came to sacrificing his life, it was he who kissed gallows at Tihar jail Delhi without any regret or remorse and that too at a time when our whole nation was in deep slumber.”
“Maqbool Bhat not only showed us how to continue struggle and resistance when free but also illustrated before us the way to continue resistance from jails and incarceration centers. His letters written during 12 years of incarceration from Delhi jail are a testimony of his intellect and greatness and every young Kashmiri should at least read these letters to know about this legend,” he added.
Malik also paid rich tributes to the militants who were killed in a gunfight with the government forces at Kulgam in south Kashmir on Sunday. “Five more Kashmiris have sacrificed their lives for the liberation of this nation. These young boys are being killed with impunity and their only crime is that they refused to budge before the forcible control and tyranny instead are ready to sacrifice their lives for this nation.”