Shujaat Bukhari
| Begins four-day protest against fake encounters; general strike on Tuesday |
EXPRESSING ANGER: Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik at a protest rally against fake encounters, in Kokernag, 80 km south of Srinagar, on Monday.
JAMMU : The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik led a protest march in Kokernag area of South Kashmir, the native place of four of the victims alleged killed in fake encounters and whose bodies were exhumed last week.
Mr. Malik, who began his four-day campaign against the killings, which includes a general strike on Tuesday and a three-day hunger strike, told told a huge gathering of protesters that the only way to put an end to rights violations was by sustained campaigning.
"Only way to safeguard ourselves is to register our protest against the growing human rights violations and the fake encounters. This way world would become aware about the trauma of Kashmiris," Mr. Malik said.He warned that the state of affairs could have serious impact on the ongoing peace process while reiterating his stand of undertaking a fast unto death if human rights violations did not end within one-and-a-half months. "Probe must be completed in one-and-a-half months and guilty should be punished, otherwise I will have no option than to go on the hunger strike," he said.
"Kashmiris are not secure even during the peace process going on for the last three years now. Does the Prime Minister know how uncontrolled the security forces are? The protests should continue and people should show resentment over such issues of grave human rights violations," he said.
As Mr. Malik arrived , thousands of people, who poured in from adjoining villages in buses and on foot, started raising anti-SOG slogans demanding stern punishment to SOG men involved in the crime. Walking the 10-km distance from Larnu, carpenter Abdul Rehman Padder's native village, Mr. Malik arrived with hundreds of protesters who raised slogans such as `SSP Ko Phansi Do' and 'Kashmir Hamara Chod Do.'
Prior to his address, angry mobs tried to set fire to the house of Constable Farooq Ahmad , a key suspect in the fake encounter. Though the house was saved, a cowshed nearby was partially damaged.
Tuesday's strike call by Mr. Malik gained the support of other separatist leaders, including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Malik for campaign against rights violations
Shujaat Bukhari
| Begins four-day protest against fake encounters; general strike on Tuesday |
EXPRESSING ANGER: Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik at a protest rally against fake encounters, in Kokernag, 80 km south of Srinagar, on Monday.
JAMMU : The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik led a protest march in Kokernag area of South Kashmir, the native place of four of the victims alleged killed in fake encounters and whose bodies were exhumed last week.
Mr. Malik, who began his four-day campaign against the killings, which includes a general strike on Tuesday and a three-day hunger strike, told told a huge gathering of protesters that the only way to put an end to rights violations was by sustained campaigning.
"Only way to safeguard ourselves is to register our protest against the growing human rights violations and the fake encounters. This way world would become aware about the trauma of Kashmiris," Mr. Malik said.He warned that the state of affairs could have serious impact on the ongoing peace process while reiterating his stand of undertaking a fast unto death if human rights violations did not end within one-and-a-half months. "Probe must be completed in one-and-a-half months and guilty should be punished, otherwise I will have no option than to go on the hunger strike," he said.
"Kashmiris are not secure even during the peace process going on for the last three years now. Does the Prime Minister know how uncontrolled the security forces are? The protests should continue and people should show resentment over such issues of grave human rights violations," he said.
As Mr. Malik arrived , thousands of people, who poured in from adjoining villages in buses and on foot, started raising anti-SOG slogans demanding stern punishment to SOG men involved in the crime. Walking the 10-km distance from Larnu, carpenter Abdul Rehman Padder's native village, Mr. Malik arrived with hundreds of protesters who raised slogans such as `SSP Ko Phansi Do' and 'Kashmir Hamara Chod Do.'
Prior to his address, angry mobs tried to set fire to the house of Constable Farooq Ahmad , a key suspect in the fake encounter. Though the house was saved, a cowshed nearby was partially damaged.
Tuesday's strike call by Mr. Malik gained the support of other separatist leaders, including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
Tuesday, Feb 06, 2007
