Chairman of Hurriyat forum, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, in Indian occupied Kashmir, has expressed concern over increasing tension between India and Pakistan on the Line of Control (LoC).
According to Kashmir Media Service, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in a statement issued in Srinagar said that he was distressed to see bloodshed taking place on the LoC every day. He urged the two nuclear neighbours to give up confrontation and come on the table to resolve the Kashmir dispute once for all.
The Mirwaiz appealed to the Kashmiri Pandits to return to their homeland. “People of Kashmir will welcome them with warmth and open arms. The migration of Kashmiri Pandits is a human issue and it makes all Kashmiris sad that they are away from their motherland and yearn to come back,” he said.
“The Kashmiri Pandits are part of our joint ethos and culture and our common past and will always remain so. Kashmir belongs to them as much as it does to Muslims and we want to share our future together. Our demand for right of self- determination is for each inhabitant of Jammu and Kashmir and they have an equal right to have their say in its future dispensation,” he added.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq termed the rape and murder of a minor nomadic girl in Kathua district in Jammu as a shameful act, saying that the callousness of those at the helm in not acting promptly in tracing the missing child for a week is condemnable.
Meanwhile, on the call of Joint Resistance Leadership a peaceful protest was held outside Jamia Masjid Srinagar during which the Hurriyat leaders and activists condemned and protested against Indian state terrorism in occupied Kashmir and the tactics adopted by Indian investigating agencies NIA and Enforcement Directorate to implicate innocent Kashmiris including Hurriyat leaders in false cases.
