Srinagar, July 5): “Banning civilian traffic on main highway of Kashmir and halting train services for a lame excuse of providing security to Amarnath pilgrims actually shows the religious fanatic face of Indian rulers who are hell-bent upon inflicting miseries and hardships on common citizens of Kashmir,” said the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) on Friday.
JKLF acting chairman Abdul Hamid Butt in a statement issued said, “This ban is actually like putting a whole nation under siege in a concentration camp. International community is actually failing its human obligation by maintaining a criminal silence over this state sponsored violation of human rights.”
He said Kashmir has a glowing history of communal harmony and religious tolerance and Kashmiris have always stood firm for defending this tolerance and brotherhood even during hardest of times.
Kashmiris in past always provided every sort of help and assistance to Amaranth Yatris and will keep doing this as it is our moral and religious duty to look after our guests, Butt said, adding that Indian rulers have now put a blanket ban on public movement on main highway during Yarta days.
“Even train service has been put to hold on the false pretext of providing security to the Amaranth Yatris. Indian rulers are actually giving a message that military convoys and Hindu pilgrimages are the priority and Kashmiris have no value and can wait,” he said.
Terming these restrictions as communal, bizarre and unacceptable, JKLF acting chairman said that “even in worst dictatorships local population is not held hostage to the movement of pilgrims”.
“Traders, students and patients are suffering massively due to this undemocratic and illegal order. Fruit and other goods worth millions are rotting on the highways, causing unimaginable damage to the local economy,” he said, adding, “Actually Delhi wants to defame Kashmir and Kashmiris and make their lives more miserable.”
JKLF has urged the international community to wake up from its “deep slumber”, saying, “Kashmiris are being deprived of their basic human rights.”
