JKLF ‘rejects’ GoI’s ban on party

Srinagar, March 23: The acting chairman of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Abdul Hameed Butt has rejected the Government of India’s ban on the party and termed it as “frustration and election stunt” of Narendra Modi.
“Such undemocratic and immoral acts can’t subdue our national resolve of freedom. Every citizen of J&K and each and every JKLF member will fight these acts with valour and passion,” Butt said in a statement issued to media.
Butt said: “The world knows that JKLF in 1987-88 with the inception of military struggle succeeded in highlighting and diverting the attention of the international community towards the UN recognized Kashmir issue. Later after the persuasion of the international community and Indian civil society, JKLF renounced its militant wing in 1994 and tread the path of peaceful and non-violent struggle for freedom and right of self-determination.”
He castigated authorities for “not sparing JKLF even after the announcement of the ceasefire”, saying that “forces killed more than 600 party cadres”.
“Our chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik survived 6 life attempts. India tried to push Yasin Malik and his associates back to militancy by not providing any political space but it was his strong commitment of peaceful struggle that he did not fell prey to Indian plan,” he said.
“Banning our party is not a new thing for us to face. In early nineties, the then Indian Home Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed through the then State governor Jagmohan banned JKLF and on our challenge, it was in 2001 when a tribunal of Supreme Court of India after marathon testimonies announced the banning of JKLF as unlawful and uncalled for. Soon after lifting the ban, our party led by its chairman Yasin Malik undertook most famous eighteen-month-long signature campaign, 116-day-long freedom march, hunger strikes, voluntary arrests and countless peaceful and non-violent protests,” Butt said.
Even the two prime ministers of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh met JKLF delegation led by Yasin Malik, Butt said adding that Yasin Malik and our worldwide party cadres represented the people of Kashmir at different international forums, met with world leaders and their representatives, attended international and regional conferences and deliberated with the representatives of international and regional human rights organizations during their visits to USA, UK, EU and other relevant places.
It was JKLF and its party chairman Yasin Malik who demonstrated and encouraged the citizens of Kashmir to tread to the path of non-violence, Butt said adding that Amnesty International in 1992 declared Yasin Malik as the prisoner of conscience when he was under Indian custody in Delhi Tihar Jail.
JKLF acting chairman castigated authorities for “mischievous grounds” on which the party was banned and termed them as “bogus and malafide”.
“Killing of Kashmiri pandits, raising funds, cases of killing people, terror funding and waging war against Indian State, are nothing but ill-designed cases to malign the leadership of JKLF and to force them to shun the path of freedom,” Butt said. “Arresting and shifting the party chairman Yasin Malik to Jammu jail under the draconian law of PSA, arresting and terrorizing the rest of the senior party leadership after the announcement of ban on JKLF and harassing the party members including the party sympathizers is solely being carried out by Modi government to lure the voters in his favour in forthcoming Indian parliamentary elections.”
Butt directed JKLF cadres to follow the programs being announced by the Joint Hurriyat Leadership to show unity at this “tough and crucial point” in time.