NIA summons: Mirwaiz himself victim of violence: Hurriyat (M)

Srinagar, Mar 13: Hurriyat Conference (M) Wednesday said that its chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has been a “victim of violence”.
The Hurriyat Conference (M) Wednesday convened a meeting in the wake of summoning of Mirwaiz by the National Investigating Agency (NIA). The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Professor Abdul Gani Bhat.
Talking to the media after the meeting, Bhat said, Mirwaiz has been a “victim of violence”.
“There shall be no mistake about it that APHC as a forum is democratic in essence and does not believe in violence in any form or manifestation let alone terror funding. Mirwaiz has been himself a victim of violence and no victim can in any case accept money for such heinous act,” Bhat said.
He said that Mirwaiz’s uncle was killed in June 2004 and his house was bombed, and Islamia School burnt.
“Yet he did not give up and continued talking to Manmohan Singh. This speaks volume of his commitment to peaceful resolution. To accuse him of involvement in terror funding is ridiculous, nothing but a political vendetta,” he said.
He said that Hurriyat (M) has been supporting efforts aimed at building peaceful relations between India and Pakistan.
“Our position to resolve the dispute through talks needs to be appreciated. We were the ones who led the dialogue in 2004 and 2005 despite tremendous backlash and sacrifice,” he said.
“Umar Farooq had honor to be its first chairman in recognition of his politico-religious background. He represents an office, which is so scarred that interference in any form or at any level with his position is extremely likely to inflict a wound deep into the collective political consciousness of Kashmir,” he said.
The NIA had summoned Mirwaiz, and Naseem Geelani, younger son of Syed Ali Shah Geelani, for questioning in a 2017 funding case on last Monday.
Mirwaiz however did not appear and instead submitted a written reply that it was not possible to travel to New Delhi citing security reasons. The NIA had on February 26 carried out searches at the premises of Hurriyat leaders, including the Mirwaiz. The Hurriyat, traders, religious groups, and mainstream political parties have denounced summoning of Mirwaiz.
Bhat said that Hurriyat (M) appreciates that Unites States of America, the Peoples Republic of China, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Great Britain put in the efforts ensuring that the Indo-Pakistan situation does not go out of hand.
“We have to live together and live peacefully to ensure prosperity and development. What constitutes an obstacle will have to be addressed,” he said.
He added that Mirwaiz heads various social and educational institutions and people give donations to these institutions.
He said during floods of 2014 in just 15 days, more than 1 crore was raised through Darul Khair.
Another senior Hurriyat leader Bilal Gani Lone said that they stand with Mirwaiz. “We won’t allow witch-hunt against him,” Lone said.
Mirwaiz on Wednesday while thanking Mutahida Ulema council requested them to take back the shutdown call for March 16.
Mirwaiz while taking to his Twitter handle expressed deep gratitude to MMU, traders fraternity and civil society members for their support and concern, “Express my deep gratitude to Mutahida Ulema council J&K the Traders fraternity and the civil society members for their concern and support, I however request Mutahida Ulema council to take back the hartal call for 16th March in this regard.”
Earlier, Muttahid-e-Majlis Ulema on Tuesday appealed people to stage protest against the summoning of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and ban on Jamaat post Friday prayers