Daily Times

Indian authorities on Friday imposed restrictions in parts of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir to prevent people from taking out Muharram processions to mark the eighth day of holy month of Muharram, officials said.

Shops and other business establishments in the areas where restrictions are in place were shut while public transport was off the roads. The Indian forces also used brute force to foil the attempt of people to take out the Muharram procession in Srinagar city and arrested several mourners.

The occupation authorities further tightened restrictions in Srinagar, Badgam, Baramulla and other areas to stop people from taking out Muharram processions. The commercial hub of Lal Chowk and adjoining areas of Srinagar were completely sealed. The Indian troops and police personnel deployed in strength across the occupied territory blocked main roads by laying barricades and with concertina wires. However, defying restrictions, people tried to take out Muharram processions in Srinagar and other areas. The mourners were holding banners reading slogans like ‘Free Kashmir’. Indian police and troops dragged and arrested dozens of mourners after subjecting the mourners to brute force at various places.

On Thursday, hundreds of people assembled in Hassanabad Rainawari area of the city and tried to proceed from Botraj Mohalla to Kathi Darwaza, the route of traditional Muharram procession on the seventh day of the Islamic month of Muharram. In this regard, witnesses told media men that when the mourners reached near Dharamshala Crossing, the Indian police personnel, who were deployed in strength, resorted to tear smoke shelling and baton-charge. “This led to complete chaos. After lobbing tear smoke shells, the cops chased the mourners and pushed them back to Hassanabad Chowk,” Shabbir Hussain, an eyewitness said, adding that police action was unwarranted and uncalled for, as the mourners were moving peacefully towards the Kathi Darwaza. “The mourners were only raising pro-Islam and other religious slogans. They all were wearing masks and keeping social distance as well. There was no provocation by mourners at all,” he added.

Meanwhile, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) once again called upon India to grant the Kashmiris their inalienable right to self-determination to decide their political future as per relevant resolutions of the United Nations. According to Kashmir Media Service, the APHC spokesman said that India would not be able to suppress the Kashmiris’ ongoing freedom struggle through military aggression and state terrorism.

Explaining its position on the Gupkara Declaration adopted by pro-India political parties, the APHC said that these parties had realized that they had been collaborating with India by strengthening its illegal occupation over Jammu and Kashmir over the past 70. These are the same parties that helped the BJP and Hindutva forces to implement their anti-Kashmiri policies, it said.

The statement said now India has shown its true face and destroyed the political future of these parties in Jammu and Kashmir, they are faced with the same reality, which the APHC and Hurriyat leaders have been warning them for the past seven decades.

The APHC said that India in violation of international laws had been practically implementing its nefarious agenda of changing the Muslim majority status of Jammu and Kashmir since August last year and had destroyed the economy of the territory. It asked these political parties to stand firmly on their stance and should not be a part of India’s anti-Kashmiri policies, nor should enter into any secret deal with New Delhi. It reiterated that the Kashmiris are politically awaken now and they have always rejected the champions of India’s Hindutva ideology in IIOJK and would not accept political traitors in the future as well.

The APHC also expressed gratitude to the government and the people of Pakistan for their continued political, diplomatic and moral support for the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination.