Separatists call for shutdown today
• Geelani blames RSS and its ilk for Zahid’s death
• Govt has failed to protect Kashmiris: Mirwaiz
• Mufti should step down: Shah
Blaming the Hindu right-wing organizations for the death of Zahid Rasool Bhat, separatist groups have called for complete shutdown on Monday.While calling for the strike, Hurriyat (G) chairman, Syed Ali Geelani said Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is deliberately trying to create communal disharmony in Jammu and Kashmir “to divert the attention from the ongoing freedom struggle”.
“PDP- BJP government is directly responsible for the killing. Since they formed the government, RSS ideology has been getting strengthened leading to encouragement of communal forces to carry out such murderous assaults in the state,” said Geelani.
The Hurriyat (G) chairman cautioned people not to fall in the RSS trap and maintain communal harmony across the state. “We should observe strike to protest the killing of our innocent youth but at the same time we must remain cautious about the RSS ploy,” he said.
Geelani said after the lynching incident of Dadri and Himachal Pradesh, Zahid’s killing was the third such incident where it has been proved that Indian communal forces are at war with the minority communities in general and Muslims in particular.
He said minority communities in India should unite to stand against these communal forces.
Hurriyat (M) chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said the state government has failed to protect the life of Kashmiris.
Appealing people to observe complete shutdown on Monday, he said it would send out a loud and clear message that such incidents would not be tolerated. “The message should go outside Kashmir that such murderous assaults and extremist ideology will not be tolerated,” said Mirwaiz, adding that communal forces were behind the death of Zahid.
Expressing grief over the death of Zahid, Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) chairman Shabir Ahmad Shah said: “If Mufti Muhammad Sayeed is having some conscience left, he should resign as the chief minister of the state.”
“Mufti by joining hands with communal RSS and BJP made it clear that he is not concerned about the people of the state. He doesn’t care whether the people of Jammu and Kashmir live or die but is only concerned about his chair.”
Shah said the culprits of the dastardly act must be brought to book at the earliest. He expressed solidarity with the family of Zahid.
