Sheikh Saqlain
SRINAGAR: Senior separatist Mirwaiz Umer Farooq has asked Kashmir’s mainstream political parties to take a lesson from the DMK party which withdrew support to the central government over the issue of Tamils in SriLanka.
Mirwaiz lashed out at the ruling National Conference (NC) and main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for failing to take a similar stand on Afzal Guru.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) of Tamilnadu accused New Delhi of quivering on a U.N. resolution on war crimes in neighbouring Sri Lanka between that country’s Sinhalese-majority government and its own minority Tamils.
India did not concede to the DMK by passing a resolution against Sri Lanka in its Parliament, but voted in favour of the resolution at the UN which called for a fair probe into the allegations.
Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri man accused of plotting an attack on the Indian parliament, was hanged on Feb 9 at Delhi’s Tihar jail . The President of India had rejected his appeal for mercy.
The separatist leader said the two main pro-India parties of Kashmir did nothing to save Guru and “always chose to surrender the sentiments of Kashmiris without an iota of shame.”
“If NC was infact serious about its reservations and ‘opposition’ to Afzal Guru’s execution, what stopped it from withdrawing support to the UPA in New Delhi? What stopped Omar Abdullah from recalling Farooq Abdullah from the Cabinet?” the leader said in a statement on Saturday.
The Mirwaiz also blamed the PDP for being non-serious when it came to supporting a resolution seeking clemency for Guru in the state assembly. The resolution had been submitted by an independent legislator, Engineer Rasheed, but it was never moved.
“The PDP also, very craftily, chose not to press for a resolution seeking the return of his mortal remains (after he was hanged),” the Mirwaiz said.
He said DMK’s withdrawal of support to the UPA “should hang the heads of NC and PDP leaders in shame”.
“Both parties, in various positions and manifestations, have been the co-perpetrators of oppression and murders in Kashmir and there is absolutely no change in their commitment to participate in each and every unjust and ruthless decision that is taken against Kashmiris and their sentiments,” he said.
The Mirwaiz also criticised India saying it had “no moral right” to condemn human rights violations in Sri Lanka.
“What rights does India have when it is perpetuating similar crimes against Kashmiris everyday? It sadly exposes India’s double standards and hypocrisy,” he said.
