Srinagar, Sep 29 (IANS) Muhammad Yasin Malik, chairman of pro-freedom Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Thursday warned of another extended phase of violence in the valley if local sensitivities are overlooked by hanging parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
Addressing a media conference here, Malik said: ‘The people of Kashmir have consciously and collectively moved away from violence to non-violence. There has been a collective transition from violence to non-violence.’
‘I appeal to all the political shades in India not to force Kashmiris into another extended phase of violence by hanging Afzal Guru.’
‘Don’t do that unless you want a transition back from non-violence to violence in Kashmir,’ he warned.
‘When Maqbool Bhat was hanged, a new Maqbool Bhat was born in every home of Kashmir. Don’t ignore this historical reality,’ Malik added.
Malik’s statement echoed those of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who had Wednesday warned of revived militancy if Guru was executed. He too cited the example of Bhat.
Malik also hit out at the local parties on the issue.
‘All of them, including the National Conference (NC), the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Panthers’ Party, were party to the hypocrisy and match-fixing that we saw in the assembly yesterday (Wednesday) when the Afzal Guru clemency resolution was allowed to lapse,’ Malik said.
‘These persons are government servants of Delhi and not the representatives of the people as they claim to be.’
The JKLF chairman announced post-Friday protests for Afzal Guru’s clemency and also against the ‘hypocrisy’ of the mainstream political parties on the resolution.
Earlier Thursday, Engineer Rashid, the Independent legislator from north Kashmir’s Langate constituency, staged a protest along with over two dozen supporters at the gates of the state assembly against the ‘sabotaging’ of the Afzal Guru clemency resolution he had submitted in the assembly.
Many of his supporters were taken into custody by police who intervened to restore order in the area.
