Friday, September 12, 2008

‘Let the UN take over Kashmir’

Srinagar, Sep 11: The former Punjab member Parliament and Shrimoni Akali Dal (Mann) chairman, Simran Jeet Singh Mann, today strongly condemned killing of innocent unarmed civilians in Kashmir and urged the United Nations to take control of both sides of Kashmir for five years and then allow people to express their opinion through UN conducted plebiscite. Addressing lawyers here at the conference hall of the High Court Bar Association (HCBA), Mann said that the struggle for the right to self-determination of the people of Kashmir couldn’t be suppressed by using brute force. He criticized the pro-India leaders of Kashmir and said that they have never raised voice in the Indian parliament regarding aspirations of people of Jammu and Kashmir. “When I was parliament member, I never saw them raising voice there,” he said.

He said India uses force to suppress the protesters here and in contrast allows “Hindu goons of Bajranj Dal, Shiv Sena, BJP a free hand to subject minority communities to tyranny.” He said he wonders if India was a democratic country why they don’t respect the aspirations of people. He said India has not accepted the international laws and subjected people in Punjab and Kashmir to suppression. He described the decision of the governor to allot the land at Baltal to particular section as “illegal and unconstitutional.”

Speaking on the occasion, the HCBA chairman, Mian Abdul Qayoom, described the agreement with Samiti as illegal saying, “It is not acceptable to Kashmir.” He said during this movement nearly 50 people have been martyred and thousands injured. He said under a conspiracy the fruit industry of the state was subjected to heavy losses. He said the Pampore, Eid Gah and UN marches were a referendum through which people conveyed that they are not for elections but for freedom.

Mann also met senior pro-freedom leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik. The leaders had detailed discussions with him. Mann during the meetings advocated for right to self-determination of Kashmiris and said he was a supporter of the struggle by the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

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