Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Nov 16: Hurriyat Conference (M) chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, today said that Hurriyat was never against elections but holding polls in presence of lakhs of forces is nothing but a military exercise aimed at damaging Kashmir.
Addressing a Friday gathering at Jamia Masjid, he said elections were meaningless in presence of AFSPA, mass arrests of separatist leaders and the killings of youth. “We believe in democracy but not the one prevailing in Kashmir under presence of lakhs of forces who are out to muzzle all democratic rights of people. Here the meaning of democracy is military might,” said the Mirwaiz.
Mirwaiz said no one is averse to elections, it is an established democratic practice across the globe where people exercise their choice and decide who and how they want to be ruled but in Kashmir that is not the case.
He said that elections will continue to be futile exercise in Kashmir unless democracy is not restored and allowed to flourish in the real sense. And the first step to that is to allow people to decide their fate by giving them the basic right that is right to self determination.
Mirwaiz said Govt of India can’t stop people of Kashmir from demanding their legitimate right. He said that people of Kashmir will once again reject the sham polls commencing from November 17 in the same way they outrightly rejected the Urban Local Body polls and send a message to one and all that people of Kashmir reject farcical exercises.
Mirwaiz said holding elections has no meaning in a place where all basic human democratic political and even religious rights of people are trampled and usurped through military might. “Where democracy itself is the biggest casualty in such a place what can local or any election achieve?”, he asked.
“Unless, New Delhi takes concrete steps to resolve the core issue of Kashmir, people will continue to stay away from every so called election”, he added.
Mirwaiz took a dig at the authorities for claiming that elections were for the development, stating that when people’s fundamental right ,the right to live, has been snatched, development hardly matters .
Mirwaiz urged people to observe complete strike on November 17 and to follow their protest and shutdown program announced for the poll bound areas on election days.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
