ISLAMABAD: JKLF chairman Yasin Malik on Saturday began a 24-hour hunger strike here to pressurize Indian authorities to hand over the body of Afzal Guru, hanged and buried in a Delhi jail to his family.
“This is a completely peaceful 24-hour protest to demand that Afzal Guru’s body should be handed over to his family. The family was not even informed about the hanging,” Malik said.
Announcing a four-day mourning, Mlik said, “Guru became a victim of politics that is being done with an eye on the upcoming elections.”
He stated this while addressing a press conference along with senior JKLF leader Ammanullah Khan at National Press Club.
After the press conference, Malik set up a hunger strike camp along with other JKLF activists outside Press Club.
Malik, here on a private visit to meet his wife and daughter, was joined by JKLF activists for the hunger strike. The JKLF supreme head Amanullah Khan who is grvely ill also sat on hunger strike to protest against Pakistani silence over the issue.
Malik said a four-day strike would be observed in Indian administered Kashmir to mourn Guru’s death.
Earlier, talking to newsmen, he called upon the international community and other human rights champions to end their criminal silence and take notice of this issue.
The family of Afzal Guru was kept completely uninformed about the hanging, Malik said, adding that it was an open violation of human rights.
He urged upon Indian government to immediately handover the dead body of Guru to his family, so that it could be buried as per Islamic rituals. He said that India could not defeat the Kashmiris by use of force against them.
Yasin Malik said that hanging of Guru in Tihar Jail mysteriously was an expression of extreme despotism and tyranny by the Government of India. He said that this action has deeply hurt the sentiments of million Kashmiri people.
He alleged that the hanging of Guru also carries a sinister design to create an atmosphere of fear among the Kashmiri people so as to deter them from demanding their usurped right of self-determination.
JKLF leader said that Guru was hanged under draconian law and claimed that courts in India are not free and independent and nobody should expect any justice from those courts, added. He urged upon
Indian civil society and international community to take notice of Guru death. (PPI)
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