GENEVA: Senior Hurriyat leader and vice chairman of Jammu Kashmir National Front (JKNF) Altaf Hussain Wani has strongly condemned the Indian authorities’ act to declare the National Front as an unlawful association.
Terming the move as a flagrant violation of political and democratic rights, Wani said that declaring political parties outlawed shows India’s utter disregard towards democracy and freedom of expression.
He said that JKNF is a political association, which believes in respect for the dignity, rights, and right to self-determination of the people of Kashmir as enshrined in the UN resolutions.
Rejecting India’s home ministry’s contention on the matter, he said that the front leaders and its activists have always pursued peaceful means to raise awareness about the settlement of the lingering dispute through dialogue and diplomacy.
Referring to the party chairman’s continued and illegal incarceration, Wani said that despite his years long detention Nayeem Ahmed Khan used lawful means to challenge his incarceration.
Khan, he said, has been advocating for a peaceful settlement of the Kashmir problem throughout his entire life. His long struggle bears testimony to the fact that he never engaged in any kind of unlawful activities.
India’s Colonial Era Tactics to Fail
Wani added that such colonial-era tactics would not help India crush the ongoing struggle for the right to self-determination or prevent the Kashmiri people from pursuing their noble cause of freedom.
Kashmiris, he said, neither believe in the Indian constitution nor have they registered their organizations under it.
Terming Kashmir as an internationally recognized disputed territory, he said, the Indian government needs to realize that the Indian laws and its constitution don’t apply in Kashmir which has been a part of the Indian union.
Urging the global community to take effective cognizance of the matter, the Front leader said that banning legitimate political voices in Kashmir reflects the rising fascism in the rank and file of the BJP government that has been hell-bent on choking every kind of dissent in the region.
