India will never be able to suppress Kashmiris' struggle

17 Aug, 2006

Chairman All Parties Hurriyat Conference Mir Waiz Omer Farooq said on Wednesday that India would never be able to suppress the freedom struggle of Kashmiri people by force.
In a telephonic interview to PTV he said, there is no other option with India and Pakistan but to solve the Kashmir issue in accordance with the wishes of Kashmiri people to bring progress and prosperity in region. He said the Indians have used all the tactics to suppress the struggle of Kashmir people over the past six decades but to no gain.
The unprecedented human rights violations by the Indian forces notwithstanding, the struggle of Kashmiri people has been getting momentum, he said, adding a sizeable proportion of Indian civil society is now willing for a political solution of dispute. It was under these circumstances that Indian leadership got engaged in the composite dialogue process but they are still hesitant to take the process forward.
In fact there are some hard-liners in Indian political scenario who do not want the forward movement of peace process and the Indian leadership is showing weakness in dealing with such elements, he said. It is an unfortunate phenomena because it would help feed the tendencies of extremism in region, he added.
He said the leadership of Pakistan has adopted a very positive approach with reference to Kashmir issue and it is ripe time for the Indian leadership to reciprocate this goodwill.
He regretted that on one hand the Indian leadership is engaged in the dialogue process and on the other they are striving to link the struggle of Kashmiri people with terrorism.
Omer Farooq urged the Indian civil society and think tanks to put more pressure on their leadership to demonstrate seriousness and sincerity in the composite dialogue process to make it a success story. To a question, he said the protest of Kashmiri people on the Indian independent day was not focused against the people of India rather it was a message to entire civilised world that India despite claiming to be the world's biggest democracy was reluctant to deliver the rights of Kashmiri people.
The independence and freedom is as dear to the people of Kashmir as it is to the people of India, he said and added that it is ironical on part of the Indian leadership to celebrate independence while they are reluctant to give the same to Kashmiris.

Read Comments