JRL hails IOK people for rejecting sham polls
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ISLAMABAD: The Joint Resistance Leadership comprising Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik in Indian occupied Kashmir has appreciated people’s rejection and boycott of the first phase of sham local bodies’ elections staged by India at gunpoint in the territory.
According to Kashmir media service , the JRL in a statement issued in Srinagar said, “Election has violated the very definition of a democratic process, making a mockery of it as the identity of contestants is neither known to the public nor they know about the areas going to polls.”
“Secrecy, manipulation and bribery are the hallmark of this twisted exercise,” the leaders said.
The JRL said people’s dismissal of this farcical exercise, which in reality is a military operation to legitimize India’s forcible control, shows people’s unwavering commitment to their struggle for securing their right to self-determination and political maturity.
“In all other phases of this electoral drama, the people will continue to stay away from the farce and observe protest shutdown in their respective areas on the poll dates,” the statement said.
Commenting on Indian Home Minister, Rajnath Singh’s statement that “no power in the world can snatch Kashmir from India”, the JRL said, “It exposes both the mindset of government of India towards J&K and their iron-fist policy in dealing with its inhabitants.”
“Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally-recognized dispute whose resolution is pending before the UN. People are demanding their right to self-determination as guaranteed by the UN,” the JRL said, adding that people of Jammu and Kashmir were, for the past 70 years, engaged in a political struggle to achieve that fundamental right.
“No power on earth can change this fact and no amount of military repression, coercion and deceit can undo it. Past 70 years of resistance bear testimony to all this,” the statement added.
“Kashmir only belongs to the Kashmiris and it is Kashmiris who will decide its fate and future,” the JRL said.
Gilani, Mirwaiz and Malik advised India to give up its arrogant approach and show wisdom and leadership by accepting the reality and work urgently towards the resolution of the Kashmir dispute in the best interest of peace and an end to arms race in the South Asian region.
APP
