Geelani not allowed to pray at Dargah on Jumat-ul-Vida

Srinagar, Jun 08: Syed Ali Geelani, the veteran separatist, was once again barred from leaving his home for the Jumatul Vida prayers he intended to offer at Hazratbal.
In a video message shot near the barred gate, Geelani said he was confined to his home since 2010, something he equated with “the funeral of India’s democracy”.
“I wanted to offer Jumatul Vida (the final Friday of the Ramadan month) prayers at Dargah Hazratbal. But since 2010, the authorities have stationed police and CRPF vehicles outside my home disallowing my right to move out. This is the funeral of Indian democracy the world is witnessing today,” he said.
Geelani reiterated the Joint Hurriyat’s call for observing Jumatul Vida as ‘Al-Qudus and Kashmir Day’, the former referring to Palestine and its Jewish occupation and latter to the Kashmir dispute.
“Massacres in Palestine continue. Just in the last few weeks, over 62 people have been killed and a thousand others injured. Similar massacres have happened in Kashmir as well. Be it in 1947, when over 5 lakh Muslims were slaughtered in Jammu, or the killing of over one lakh people in Kashmir in the last three decades,” he said.
The Hurriyat (G) Chairman also pointed out the hardships incarcerated Kashmiris have been facing in the jails within and outside the state.
“They are not being provided food or medicines. The jail authorities don’t treat them well. They are simply asking for their rights,” he said.
Geelani referred to the United Nations’ Kashmir resolution of April 1948, which recognises Jammu and Kashmir as a disputed territory whose people should be given the right to self-determination to decide their future.
“India keeps occupying this land with its military might. India keeps on killing people, mowing them down without any regard to justice or human rights,” he said.
“I want to remind India that our struggle will continue and we will never surrender.”