ISLAMABAD: The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has appealed to the freedom loving people of Kashmir to observe complete shutdown in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) on Saturday, May 21 to commemorate the martyrdom anniversaries of prominent liberation leaders, Mirwaiz Molvi Mohammad Farooq and Khawaja Abdul Ghani Lone and martyrs of Hawal.
According to Kashmir Media Service (KMS), the observance of the shutdown is also aimed at protesting against the illegal detention of Hurriyat leaders and activists lodged in different jails of IIOJK and India and to pay tribute to their dedication and commitment to the ongoing freedom movement.
The APHC leadership in a statement issued in Srinagar, said that protest rallies would be organised on that day against the genocide of the Kashmiris by the Indian forces in the territory. It urged the people to defy restrictions and commemorate the Martyrs’ Week by organizing programs, rallies and congregational Fateha prayers at the mass level for popular martyred leaders. On 21st May, Saturday, people would visit the Martyrs’ Graveyard at Eidgah in Srinagar to offer Fateha for all the Kashmiri martyrs. The APHC asked the Imams and Khateebs to remember the martyrs in their five-time daily prayers in mosques.
Mirwaiz Muhammad Farooq was shot dead by unidentified gunmen at his residence in Srinagar on 21st May in 1990. On the same day, seventy mourners were killed when Indian troops opened indiscriminate fire on his funeral procession in Hawal area of Srinagar. Twelve years later on May 21 in 2002, Khawaja Abdul Ghani Lone, was martyred by unknown attackers, when he was returning from addressing a gathering at the Martyrs’ Graveyard in Srinagar.
Meanwhile, the Awami Action Committee (ACC) in a statement in Srinagar said all leadership including its chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is under continued illegal detention since August 2019. It said coercion and pressure from authorities on youth, rights activists, NGOs, volunteers, government employees, traders, local media outlets, journalists, writers and everyone is immense.
A Majlis-e-Quran khawani will be organised at Mirwaiz Manzil Rajouri Kadal in Srinagar on Thursday for Mirwaiz Molvi Muhammad Farooq, Khawaja Abdul Ghani Lone, victims of Hawal massacre and all the Kashmiri martyrs, the statement added.
The ACC said, the blood of Kashmiri martyrs would not be allowed to go waste and their mission would be accomplished at all costs. It maintained that the supreme sacrifices rendered by tens of thousands of Kashmiri martyrs are a painful but constant reminder that the Kashmir dispute has to be resolved and the Kashmiris’ sentiment honoured. It added that no amount of Indian repression or coercion can force the Kashmiri people to surrender their just struggle for securing their right to self-determination.
