Hurriyat Conference Chairman and Chief Cleric of Jammu and Kashmir Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
Hurriyat chairman and Valley’s chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Friday (October 11, 2024) described the recent verdict of the J&K elections as “strong disapproval of the drastic unilateral changes made in August 2019.”
The Mirwaiz, who addressed the Friday congregation at the Jama Masjid in Srinagar, said, “People have sent a unanimous and clear message that in every manner available to them, they will resist attempts to subjugate and disempower them. This time, through a consolidated ballot, they registered their strong disapproval of the drastic unilateral changes made in August 2019, since when they have been systematically disempowered, deprived, and their voices stifled.”
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Without naming the National Conference (NC), the Mirwaiz said those voted to power must be “respectful to the voters’ message” and “fulfil the promise they made to restore the legal safeguards and the rights snatched from them in 2019”.
“The ownership of our land and resources, the constitutional commitments reneged on, our very identity, and dignity were further undermined by the 2019 commandments,” the Mirwaiz said.
He reiterated that the Hurriyat “will peacefully strive for those rights never given to people for almost the last eight decades”. “We are constantly struggling for them and are being sent to jails. However, we have been constantly appealing to the Government of India for engagement and the release of political prisoners which include political leaders, lawyers, human rights activists and youth,” the Mirwaiz said.
He urged the incoming government to take up the matter of prisoners with the Government of India and “help secure the release of all political prisoners, especially youth languishing in jails for years and decades”.
He also called upon the incoming government “to push for the withdrawal of the draconian laws, including Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and Public Safety Act (PSA), “under which even NC leaders were incarcerated in 2019”.
“These laws have destroyed people’s lives. The medical condition of many prisoners in jail is very worrying. There is an urgent humanitarian need to reunite them with their families, so this matter demands immediate attention and should be addressed on priority,” the Mirwaiz said.
Published – October 11, 2024 05:33 pm IST