Protesters in UK denounce custodial murder of Kashmiri leader Altaf Shah

BIRMINGHAM:

Paying glorious tributes to Altaf Ahmad Shah, the Kashmiri resistance leader who attained martyrdom on October 10, allies and supporters of Kashmiris in the UK on Friday held demonstrations against India’s genocidal policies in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

The demonstrators called out the genocidal policies of India in IIOJK under which the fascist regime in New Delhi wants to eliminate the Kashmiris who seek implementation of UN resolutions which grant the right to self-determination to the people of the occupied region.

Led by Tehreek-e-Kashmir UK leader Fahim Kayani, the demonstrators reminded the United Nations of its delayed role in ending the military occupation of Kashmir by India.

Read more: Pakistan asks India to probe custodial death of Kashmiri leader

Kayani said that the custodial murder of Shah is a “doomsday call” for the UN to wake up and save the lives of innocent Kashmiris.

“Shaheed Altaf Shah Sahab proved his loyalty to the cause of freedom of Kashmir from India by his life,” said Kayani, president of Tehreek-e-Kashmir UK.

66-year-old Shah attained martyrdom at a hospital in New Delhi, on the night of October 10, where he was under the custody of Indian forces. Shah was detained in the infamous Tihar jail since 2017 under trumped-up charges. Indian fascist authorities could not prove a single charge against Shah and other All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leaders who are also being illegally detained.

Shah was suffering from renal cancer, diabetes, and other serious ailments but was denied proper medical care. He was shifted to a hospital after a public outcry over his health.

“Shaheed Altaf Shah was loyal to Shaheed Geelani Sahab and worked shoulder to shoulder with the Kashmiri resistance icon,” said Kayani.

Altaf Shah’s association with the Kashmir freedom movement extends for decades. He started his activism with Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) in the 1970s. Later, he joined Jamaat-e-Islami IIOJK from where he was transferred to Tehreek-e-Hurriyat IIOJK which was founded in 2004 by Shaheed Geelani and Shaheed Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai. Sehrai was also killed in custody last year in May.

 

Before Sehrai, Ghulam Mohammad Bhat, 65, a former member of the banned religious-political organisation Jamaat-e-Islami IIOJK, became the first political prisoner to die in an Indian prison after August 5, 2019, when India re-annexed IIOJK.

Also read: Kashmiri leader Altaf Ahmad Shah dies in India custody

Bhat, who had been arrested on July 17, 2019, died in December 2019 in Naini jail in India’s Uttar Pradesh province, hundreds of kilometres away from his home.

Muhammad Ghalib President Tehreek-e-Kashmir Europe said that the inaction by the UN and international community in the recent custodial murders of Kashmiris has “emboldened India to go on a killing spree of Kashmiris who are illegally detained in jails.”

“Our Hurriyat Conference leaders in Indian jails are faces of Kashmiri resistance to illegal Indian occupation,” Ghalib said. “India is following a design to eliminate any Kashmiri who raises his or her voice for freedom. This is to make people in IIOJK forget their leaders but Kashmiris will not let India a free passage. We will stand tall against all such colonial attempts by a fascist state i.e. India.”

The protesters said the inaction by the UN and other international organisations like International Criminal Court and UN Human Rights Council raises questions about their impartiality.

“People have lost their trust in these global organisations meant to ensure peace and justice,” they said.

Ch Muhammad Sharif Senior Vice President TeK UK, Khawajah Muhammad Suleman In-charge KIRC TeK UK, Chaudhry Ikramul Haq President TeK Birmingham, Qamar Abbas Vice President TeK Birmingham, Raja Muhammad Aslam In-charge Kashmir campaign Haroonia mosque, Mulana Khalid, Mulana Iqbal Awan, Aqdis Mughal In-charge Media South Zone TeK UK, Mulana Khalid, Syed Ashiq Hussain Kazami and all Kashmiri leadership urged the state of Pakistan, Kashmiri leadership in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the APHC and Kashmiri diaspora to reflect on the situation in IIOJK.

“If we do not stand up this time, India will continue these unabated custodial murders of Kashmiris,” they said, proposing an international conference on Kashmiri political prisoners illegally detained in Indian jails.

“Let us put our heads together and bring together international law experts and deliberate how to bring India to international courts,” they said.