Modi-led govt inspired by Nazi ideology: PM
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday lambasted the Indian government led by Narendra Modi's RSS-BJP (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-Bharatiya Janata Party) for snatching the body and registering a case against the family of veteran Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Geelani, saying that it was inspired by the ideology of the Nazi regime.
Quote-tweeting a Time of India news article on the treatment meted out to the Kashmiri stalwart, the premier said that it was "another shameful example of India’s descent into fascism under the Nazi-inspired RSS-BJP govt".
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi also condemned the registration of the case and said the "fascist Indian state" should be ashamed.
“The fascist Indian state fears the revered Syed Ali Geelani so much that they stormed his home, snatched his body at night, prevented a funeral befitting of his stature, and are now attempting to intimidate his grieving family by registering cases against them,” he tweeted.
Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Minister Asad Umar said Geelani had kept the freedom movement against the “extremist” Indian government alive during his life.
He added that even after his demise, the Indian government feared the force of his message. “His family was not allowed to bury him and a case was filed them.”
Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry told reporters in Lahore that Modi was so frightened that he could not hand over a dead body to the family.
“The Indian prime minister is such a coward that he cannot bear freedom of expression,” he added.
Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari said that even in death, Geelani frightened the “fascist Modi regime”, which was now taking revenge against his family.
“Even in death, the power of Syed Ali Geelani sends shivers down the fascist Modi regime. So they snatched his mortal remains & are now taking vengeance on his family. India, like Israel, violating all int’l laws on occupation,” she wrote on Twitter.
Geelani, 92, passed away in Srinagar on Wednesday. His death had prompted the Indian authorities to impose a security clampdown in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK). The occupation forces had put up barbed wire and barricades on roads leading to Geelani’s house in the main city of Srinagar after the family announced the death.
Geelani's son had also accused police of taking his father's body away to be buried in the middle of the night, hours after his death, a charge denied by the local police.
However, on Saturday, the Indian authorities registered a case against the family of Geelani for raising anti-state slogans at his funeral and shrouding the deceased politician's body in a Pakistani flag - pictures of which reportedly went viral.
The Times of India quoted a police official as saying: “The FIR was registered at Budgam police station against the family members of Geelani along with other elements for raising anti-national slogans and putting Pakistani flag on the separatist’s body at his home after his death on Wednesday.”