Geelani challenges New Delhi to hold plebiscite in Kashmir

The veteran Kashmiri leader and Chairman of All Party Hurriyet Conference, Syed Ali Geelani, has challenged the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Indian government to hold plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir to ascertain whether the people of the territory want freedom or prefer to live with India.

Syed Ali Geelani, in response to assertions made by a BJP leader, Ram Jethmalani, in a statement issued in occupied Srinagar, said the Kashmiris were pursuing right to self-determination and rejected all other options, the KMS reported.

He condemned the move of pro-India parties for inducting tainted and killer officers in their parties and added that pro-India politics was based on selfishness and the parties were sworn enemies of the people of Kashmir. The octogenarian leader said that these parties didn’t follow any principle and had no criteria and welcomed all those with criminal background.

He said, “We are pursuing right to self-determination.” Referring to previous record of Usman Majeed (Congress), Aashiq Bukhari (PDP), Rashid Billa (NC), P S Gill and Farooq Khan (BJP) and Khursheed Khan (PC), Syed Ali Geelani said that “what all they did during their reign is yet fresh, and we can’t forget those innocents who were subjected mercilessly to torture and brutalities by all these in torture centers of Jammu and Kashmir”.

The veteran leader said that the memories of brutalities were still fresh in the minds of the people, and they couldn’t forgive and forget those people who killed their dear ones. “By allowing them to come at the forefront, the pro-India parties are rubbing salt into our wounds, and they should answer how they endorsed these notorious bureaucrats in their ranks as their hands are smeared with the blood of thousands of innocent Kashmiri people,” he deplored.