Srinagar, Oct 8: The Joint Hurriyat Leadership comprising of Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik on Monday appreciated people’s rejection and boycott of the “sham ULB elections being forcibly held by GoI in J&K, and the exemplary complete protest shutdown against it.’
In a statement, the Joint Hurriyat said that this election has “violated the very definition of the democratic process, making a mockery of it as the identity of the contesting public representatives is not known to the public nor the area going to polls.”
“Secrecy manipulation and bribery are the hallmark of this twisted exercise,” the Joint Hurriyat alleged in a statement issues to media on Monday.
“People’s dismissiveness of this farcical exercise which in reality is a military operation to legitimise Government of India’s forcible control, shows people’s unwavering commitment to their struggle for self-determination and their political maturity,” the leadership-trio said in the statement.
They said that in all other phases of the elections, people will “continue to stay away from the farce and will observe protest shutdown in their respective areas on the poll dates.”
Commenting on the statement by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, “Kashmir is ours … no power on earth can snatch it from us,” the Joint Hurriyat said that it “exposes GoI’s iron hand policy in dealing with the inhabitants of Kashmir, which is highly unfortunate.”
