By Asghar Ali Mubarak
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday strongly condemned the conviction of prominent Hurriyat leader Muhammad Yasin Malik by the Indian court in a fictitious terrorism case.
He said Pakistan rejected the Indian failed tactics against Yasin Malik who was a symbol of unparalleled bravery and freedom.
He urged the international community including the United Nations and the Human Rights Council to take note of India’s extra-judicial measures.
He said the government of Pakistan would highlight India’s actions against Yasin Malik and other Kashmiri leadership at all international forums including the human rights bodies and the forum of Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
PM Sharif said similar to the illegal measures of August 5, 2019, the case against Yasin Malik was also unlawful and pointed out that India was following a deliberate plan to overthrow the real leadership representing the Kashmiris.He said the Indian government, which was afraid of the body of Syed Ali Geelani also feared Yasin Malik, a great symbol of Kashmir.
He mentioned that thousands of Kashmiri martyrs, including Ashraf Sehrai and his son were the milestones of the Kashmir’s plebiscite.
The prime minister termed all these martyrs a proof of the tyranny and brutality of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), adding that the people of IIOJK could not be enslaved by India’s draconian laws against Kashmiris.
He paid tribute to the brave Kashmiris for their unparalleled struggle and immense sacrifices and called upon the international community to resolve the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions and the aspirations of Kashmiris.
He vowed that the government and people of Pakistan would continue to support the just struggle of the Kashmiris.
In the latest act of political vendetta against the Kashmiri Hurriyat leaders, a court of India’s notorious National Investigation Agency (NIA) officially convicted, Thursday, the illegally detained Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Chairman, Muhammad Yasin Malik, in a false case registered against him.
Special Judge of NIA court, Praveen Singh, directed the authorities of the probing agency to assess Yasin Malik’s financial situation to determine the amount of fine to be imposed and posted the matter for arguments on quantum of sentence on May 25.
The JKLF Chairman had told the court earlier that he was not contesting the charges levelled against him under various sections of draconian law, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), and Indian Penal Code including waging war against India.
During the trial, Malik protested the charges and said he was a freedom fighter.
“Terrorism-related charges leveled against me are concocted, fabricated and politically motivated,” his organization, the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, cited him as telling the court.
“If seeking Azadi (freedom) is a crime, then I am ready to accept this crime and its consequences,” he told the judge.
The court had earlier also formally framed the charges against other APHC leaders including Masarrat Aalam Butt, Shabbir Ahmad Shah, Nayeem Ahmad Khan, Farooq Ahmed Dar, Syed Salahuddin, Advocate Shahid-ul-Islam, Altaf Ahmad Shah, Ayaz Muhammad Akbar, Raja Merajuddin Kalwal, Peer Saifullah, and businessman, Zahoor Ahmad Watali.
The JKLF Chairman was arrested by Indian police from his residence in Srinagar in February 2019 and was later shifted to New Delhi’s infamous Tihar Jail and still remains lodged there.
Narendra Modi-led fascist Indian government arrested thousands of Kashmiris including Hurriyat leaders and activists before and after its illegal move of repealing the special status of IIOJK on August 05, 2019 and lodged them in different jails of occupied Kashmir and India. The Modi regime is victimizing them for opposing India’s illegal occupation of their homeland and demanding their UN recognized right to self-determination.
The APHC spokesman in a statement in Srinagar said India cannot force the Kashmiri leaders to surrender their just cause by using its kangaroo courts. He urged the world community, particularly the UN, to play a role in the release of Kashmiri political detainees to save them from India’s wrath.
