India’s civil society behaves like State on Kashmir: Mirwaiz

India’s civil society behaves like State on Kashmir: Mirwaiz

Srinagar: “All Indian institutions, may it be administration, Army or courts, have common policy on Kashmir, they want to use every effort to suppress the Kashmiri freedom movement and serve their national interests,” Hurriyat Conference (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said on Sunday.
Speaking at a seminar titled ‘Denial of Justice-Policy of the State’ organised by the Hurriyat in connection with the ‘Kashmiri Women’s Resistance Day’ to mark the 23rd anniversary of Kunan-Poshpora mass rape, Mirwaiz said that it was “highly unfortunate that like the Indian state, its civil society too has double-standards when it comes to Kashmir.”
Mirwaiz paid tributes to the “resolve and commitment of women in resistance struggle despite hardships and sufferings,” saying the “Kashmiri women by virtue of character, courage and bravery have been an inspiration for others to carry on with the freedom struggle.”
He said the Kashmiri women “have been the worst victims of violence perpetrated by the Indian state. The chastity of women folk was violated while as their sons, fathers, husbands and brothers were killed, disappeared or sent to jails by the state.”
Mirwaiz said Hurriyat has a “clear policy” on Kashmir issue. “It can either it be solved by implementing UN resolutions or through tripartite dialogue between the three stake holders of the conflict. As a precursor to the permanent resolution of the dispute, India should take steps to create conducive atmosphere in Kashmir by ending policy based on repression and revoking black laws.”
Mirwaiz said Kashmir was not a geographic or regional issue. He said it was a political issue which needs to be solved politically. He said pro-India political parties which were “providing legality to the occupation are equally responsible for the suffering of Kashmiris as the Indian courts and administration.”
Others who spoke on during the seminar included human rights defender Parvez Imroz, advocate Nazir Ahmad Ronga, journalist Zahir-ud-Din, columnists Dr Javed Iqbal and Ajaz-ul-Haq, and advocate Abdul Majid Banday of the Hurriyat.
Imroz said the role of Indian courts in Kashmir has been “more of safeguarding the national interest than delivering justice,” adding that “Indian courts were equally having double-standards while dealing with the cases of Kashmiris.”
Zahir-ud-Din demanded transparency in talks between Srinagar and New Delhi. “People of Kashmir have no problem if the Hurriyat leaders engage in dialogue with Delhi, but the people have every right to know the contours of the dialogue. We should not come to know through Indian media what the leaders don’t want to tell the people,” he said, adding “There is no room for secret diplomacy in revolutionary movements.”
Senior Hurriyat leaders including Prof Abdul Gani Bhat, Maulana Abbas Ansari, Agha Syed Hassan, Musadiq Adil, advocate Shahid-ul-Islam, Javed Ahmad Mir, Zaffar Akbar Bhat, Hakim Abdul Rashid, Abdul Manan Bukhari, Chowdhary Shaheen, Syed Bashir Andrabi, and Mushtaq Ahmad Sofi were also present on the occasion.

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