Srinagar, India, Sept 4, IRNA - Kashmir's chief cleric while making a forceful call for unity has called for joint and united prayers in Srinagar this Eid “to answer India on what Kashmiris want.”Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, who is also leader of the moderate Hurriyat Conference asked all pro-freedom leaders to join prayers at the Eidgah “in the wider interest of the movement and out of respect to the demands of the masses.”
“By coming together at the Eidgah for Eid prayers, we will show India what Kashmiris want,” the Mirwaiz said, inviting the international press and diplomatic corps to the occasion.
“India has tried every weapon in its arsenal to crush our struggle, but has failed to break the will of the Kashmiri masses,” he said. “This has been admitted by the right-thinking classes in India and the Indian civil society, besides being reflected in the statements of government representatives.”
“India has been repeatedly misleading world opinion by saying that it was not clear who wanted what in Kashmir,” he said. “This is the critical juncture for us to come together at Eidgah and give New Delhi an answer.”
“I am happy that the same proposals put before India by the Hurriyat Conference are being stressed upon by all pro-movement forces. And recently, senior leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, too, laid down the same conditions before New Delhi,” he said.
“Therefore, the government of India should take urgent steps to hold result-oriented and decisive talks with Pakistan and the representatives of the people of Kashmir to resolve the six decade old dispute,” he said.
“I want to re-iterate the reality that Kashmir is a tripartite issue, and history and past experience are evidence that no two parties alone can resolve the issue,” he said. “The bilateral process has failed, and the option stands rejected and closed.”
Referring to China’s stand on Kashmir, the Mirwaiz said that Beijing had openly declared the disputed status of Kashmir, and thanked the Chinese nation for this gesture.
