Extremist mindset in India led to Afzal hanging: Malik

‘Am not afraid of jail, will return home soon’

NISAR AHMED THOKAR

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Islamabad, Feb 22: The chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Muhammad Yasin Malik, has said the mindset that killed Gandhi has led to the hanging of Muhammad Afzal Guru.
Malik, currently on a private visit to Pakistan, made these assertions during an interview with Greater Kashmir.
Malik said that in 2006 he had apprised the Indian leadership of the repercussions of the court verdict against Guru and made it clear that the hanging would have serious implication on the overall situation in the region. He said, “When Supreme Court announced death sentence for Guru, Kashmir witnessed large scale protests against the decision which were organized by almost all pro-freedom parties.”
Malik said, “We organised a day-long Dharna at Jantar Mantar which was attended by Parliament members and representatives of civil society including the wife and son of Afzal Guru. I sent a communiqué to the Prime Minister of India through one of my journalist friends wherein I apprised him of the repercussions of the court verdict and urged him not to push Kashmiris to another bloodbath.”
Regarding the PM’s response, Malik said, “The response from the Prime Minister of India, which my journalist friend told me, was positive but at the same time he was apprehensive that there are opposition parties who have different stand on this issue.” Malik said he met general secretaries of both the communist parties of India, A B Bardhan and Prakash Karat in this regard. “I telephoned Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he was not well at that time and I talked to his adviser Brijesh Mishra on phone and communicated him the same message.”
The JKLF chief said he met almost all leading journalists and editors of both print and electronic media in Delhi. He said that all of them supported his view and realized the fact that Guru’s hanging will have far reaching consequences.
He said that it was very unfortunate that the President of India dismissed Afzal’s mercy petition and he was hanged in secrecy. “It is the murder of judiciary and their own Constitution because Guru had Constitutional and legal right to go again to the court after the dismissal of the mercy petition, but he was not given that opportunity,” Malik regretted.
“I have a question for Indian conscience, the people who believe in democracy and justice, and particularly to the Prime Minister of India who claims to represent the ideology of Gandhi. Only Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal and RSS demanded that Guru should be hanged. Was the decision of sending Guru to the gallows taken to satisfy the conscience of these extremists?” Malik asked. “This is the same ideology and same people who killed Gandhi,” he added.
“Shall we make an opinion that India as a whole has been virtually taken over by the killers of Gandhi?” he asked, adding that they were the people who have not spared thinkers and writers in India. “They were brute with MF Hussain who died in exile, they did not spare the lawyers community, they attacked senior Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bushan in his office and beat him ruthlessly,” he said.
“These people with extremist mindset have killed thousands of people in Gujarat, they did not even spare a pregnant woman who was killed including the baby who was yet to be born,” he said.
He said that it was astonishing to see that the same people were voted to power in Gujarat.
Referring to a sequence of related events, Malik said, “In 1984, India hanged Maqbool Bhat at same place in the same month. Prior to that tragic incident, Kashmiri people throughout their 5000-year long history had never shown any inclination towards violent means of struggle.”
“But after the hanging of JKLF founder, a Maqbool Bhat was born in every home of Kashmir, I’m one among them,” Malik said.
About Kashmiris’ ongoing struggle, he said, “Now when the people of Kashmir have shown a transition from a violent to non-violent democratic movement, Indian State used military power to suppress this movement by killing 72 people in 2008, 44 in 2009 and 124 in 2010. Even then Kashmiri people still remained committed to non-violent struggle.”
“Bearing in mind the attitude and behavior of India towards Kashmiris, the question arises whether the Indian State has an intention to push the new generation of Kashmir to a violent path?” he said.
These are the questions which, he said, Indian State, civil society and the different political school of thoughts in India must reply.
On Indo-Pak dialogue process, Malik said, “The dialogue process has been going on for last several years and whenever there is a dialogue anywhere in the world on any issue, it gives a hope and optimism to the people and during the process of dialogue people expect positive behavior from the States.”
He made it clear that Kashmiris were not averse to friendly relations between the two countries. He said, “We have a reason to question them that on one hand the process of dialogue is going on while on the other we see victimization of Kashmiris continues unabated.”
Regarding the opening of channels of communications and dialogue at different levels, Malik said, “We have 25-year experience of this, whenever there are crises in Kashmir, Indian civil society gets active and Indian State always uses them as fire-fighters to ease the tension.” He said that the civil society of India could not prevent the hanging of Afzal Guru, they could not stop Indian State in pronouncing life imprisonment sentences to 32 Kashmiris youth who have been languishing in jails for last several years.
“The fact remains that India uses them as a tool to ease the situation whenever there are crises in the region and secondly we saw that they don’t pursue whatever tell people during their meetings and ultimately when situation shows a mark of improvement they suddenly go off the scene,” he maintained.
The Indian civil society, he said, was suffering from credibility crisis in Kashmir. “They can’t be used as fire fighters always, during crisis they make tall claims and when the crisis are over we fail to find their addresses,” the JKLF chairman said.
Regarding the returning of Guru’s body to his family, Malik said, “This is the legal as well as the Constitutional right of the family and I was surprised to see the statement of Indian Prime Minister that Parliament would decide about it. What Parliament has to do with this, there is a procedure in their Constitutional and legal framework that before hanging a person his family should be informed in advance and they must be given the opportunity to meet each other and after the hanging dead body is handed over to the family but in Guru’s case we saw he was not allowed to meet his wife and son nor his dead body was given to them.” Malik, however, was of the view that Indian civil society can play important role and pursue their government to hand over the body to his relatives as soon as possible.
Expressing deep discontent over the secret execution of Guru in Tihar Jail, he said, “For Kashmiris there was a message of hatred and arrogance from Indian State and they (Indians) conveyed this message to the people of Kashmir that they can go to any extent.”
Terming this attitude as unacceptable, Malik said, “I don’t think this kind of attitude on the part of India can work,” he said.
Regarding the BJP leaders’ demand of cancellation of his passport, Malik said, “After Afzal Guru’s hanging, JKLF Supreme Head Mr. Amanullah Khan and me held a joint press conference and announced 24-hour hunger strike against the execution and to press the Government of India to return the body to the relatives.”
“Hunger strike has a universal message whereby you give trouble to yourself to register a protest. A large number of people came to visit the hunger strike camp in Islamabad. People from civil society of Pakistan, the whole leadership from Azad Kashmir and others visited the camp on their own and we did not invite anybody to join us. Hafiz Syed also came there and stayed there for 15 minutes. The next day we were surprised to see that rather than focusing on what was happening in Kashmir, the whole Indian media was abuzz with the news that Yasin Malik should be arrested and his passport must be cancelled,” Malik rued.
“How unfortunate it is that when in 2006 I met the same person at Mureedke (Lahore) at a five-hour meeting and addressed a joint public gathering, at that time it was not offensive news for India despite the fact that Syed had been declared as most wanted person by India,” he said.
He said, “There was a high profile peace process going on between the two countries and when I met Syed I told him that the militant leadership must be part of the process and they must support and create an atmosphere for the dialogue process, nobody raised objection then,” he added.
“On 10th of February when Hafiz Syed visited the hunger-strike camp there was no meeting, nothing was going on and they (Indians) made it a big issue,” Malik said.
The JKLF chairman said, “Now they have decided to cancel my passport and they may arrest me. Let they do whatever they want, but I have already said that jail is my second home. I am not afraid of jails as I’ve spent more than 10 years in prison. I have seen worst jails in India like Jodhpur. I was kept with mentally retarded people for one year in Agra. I have seen interrogations and torture cells and if they want to use this method again they can,” Malik said.
Replying a question, he said, “Why should I be afraid? I believe in my ideology that I want to liberate Kashmir through non-violent democratic means. This is my faith and my romance and I will pursue my ideology and if they take me to jail or interrogation centers it is their wish and let them fulfill their desire.”
Malik said, “I will be back home soon. Currently I’m working to get travel documents of my 11-month old daughter and as soon as I get it I will return home at the earliest possible time.”
The JKLF chairman is one of the pioneers of resistance movement and a key member of the famous HAJY group which initiated armed struggle in Kashmir in late ’80s.
After four years of armed struggle when militancy was at its peak, Malik announced a unilateral ceasefire in 1994 and decided to pursue his ideology through non-violent and democratic means.
The decision was hugely criticized in Kashmir but it earned a lot of appreciation at international level. The decision of unilateral ceasefire even led to split in his organization.
Since 1994, Malik has been championing the cause of Kashmiris peacefully and has been able to launch massive public awareness campaigns in Kashmir besides pursuing the civil society of India to get the dispute of Kashmir resolved through peaceful means. Despite the fact that hundreds of his party activists were allegedly killed by government forces during the recent years, Malik seems quite determined to continue his non-violent struggle to achieve his goal.

Pak defence analyst proposes joint nuclear power plants on Indo-Pak border

NISAR AHMED THOKAR

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Islamabad Feb 14: Eminent academic and defense analyst of Pakistan Dr Shireen Mazari has suggested that Pakistan should propose joint civil nuclear power plants to India along the border of the two countries as a security confidence building measure.
 While addressing a seminar on emerging nuclear scenario at the Institute of Policy Studies here she said, “Initiative would not only help in meeting energy crisis in both countries but will also prove the best deterrence for two nuclear powers.”
 She said the demands from Pakistan and India to sign NPT were “untenable” as the two nuclear states would not give up their capabilities. She suggested proactive diplomacy and concerted effort for an additional protocol to the treaty that would recognize the two nations as nuclear weapon state parties.
 Dr Marazi said: “Nuclear arms control and disarmament area has always been premised on two parallel tracks one being the US-favored discriminatory approach embodied earlier in non-proliferation treaty (NPT) and now taking shape of fissile material cut-off treaty (FMCT) and the other non-discriminatory approach manifested in international agreements like CTBT and certain IAEA initiatives.”
 Referring to the most recent and third nuclear test by North Korea, she said that such actions could be taken with almost impunity because the most significant treaty in the current international setting with respect to nuclear power, NPT was being undermined by its proponents.
 In this respect she highlighted and criticized Indo-US nuclear deal for which special waivers were sought by the US from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in violation of all sets of existing international laws on the subject. She said following the precedent set by US, France and Britain too have signed such deals with India in contravention of their NPT obligations. She termed this “dialectic of discriminatory non-proliferation regime” as first major trend on nuclear scenario with questions of safety of nuclear power generation as the second and the discourse of nuclear disarmament as third major trend.
 On FMCT, she said that Pakistan could not afford to agree to it because no other nation except Pakistan would suffer if it comes in operation. She lauded the policy of the government of Pakistan for consistently resisting “yet another discriminatory measure” in the field of nuclear energy. She reminded that Pakistan is not the only country dissatisfied with the proposed draft, “There were twenty abstentions too” with expressed concerns on its various aspects.
 “Even if we are told that we have been isolated, we should keep on insisting for safeguarding our interests”, she stressed while adding that “Pakistan should keep on striving for ‘criteria-based’ and not ‘country-specific’ international standards”.
 She presented a survey of safety and security measures that Pakistan had in place for its nuclear assets and underscored that as opposed to other nuclear power states there was no incident of nuclear theft or proliferation recorded from Pakistan. She also rebutted the oft-quoted allegation that Pakistan was behind North Korean nuclear technology saying that North Korea’s first nuclear test exploded a device based on plutonium in 2006 while Pakistan’s nuclear program was uranium based.
 On Pakistan’s response to the emerging regional and global situation, she said that the country had missed some opportunities yet it had used its options quite fairly to maintain deterrence and credibility. Recently tested Nasr missile with 60 KM range was a “necessary as well as well-timed move” and demonstrates that Pakistan has acquired the technology and capability to counter India’s ‘cold start’ and ‘second strike’. Contrary to what some US sections perceive, Nasr was not a battlefield weapon and does not signal a shift from deterrence towards war mode”, she said.
 She also saw the development of Pakistan’s own cruise missiles as ‘critical’ in view of India’s development of missile defense capability. She iterated that Pakistan should stick to its principles of “minimum credible deterrence” and “strategic restraint” and continue acting responsibly but more cautiously and wisely.
 “Those present in the seminar thought that it could have been an option but keeping in view the response and behavior of India over already launched confidence building measures and its approach towards Pakistan, it was almost bound to get a cold Indian shoulder like other Pakistani suggestions for lasting peace in the region,” the IPS chairman said in a statement.
 “It was also observed that confidence-building mechanisms including trade couldn’t work until real progress was made on the core issue of Kashmir,” the statement added.

Salah-u-Din for unified political leadership

Flays Pak Govt’s silence over hanging

Afzal Hanging Murder Of Justice And Law: UJC

NISAR AHMED THOKAR

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Islamabad, Feb 13: Urging pro-freedom leadership to forge unity, the UJC leadership on Wednesday said a unified political leadership in Kashmir with a strong resistance movement at its back was the only way to take the ongoing struggle to its logical conclusion.
UJC chief Syed Salah-u-Din Ahmed made this assertion while addressing a function at press club in Islamabad.
Held under the aegis of Jihad Council, the function was organized to pay homage to Muhammad Afzal Guru who was hanged in Tihar jail on Saturday.
Besides, UJC chief, the function was addressed by Muhammad Usman, UJC deputy chairman, Moulana Farooq Kashmiri chief of Harakat-ul-Mujahideen, Syed Toib of Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish Muhammad Commander, Ghulam Rasool Shah of Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen commander Mufti Asghar and Sheikh Jammel-u-Rehman with hundreds of activists and supporters of the militant organizations present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, Salah-u-Din said, “At this very critical juncture we appeal all the pro-freedom leadership particularly Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Shabir Ahmed Shah, Muhammad Yasin Malik to adopt a joint strategy and come up with a joint course of action before the masses to achieve their cherished goal”.
Expressing his resentment against the hanging of Kashmiri youth Muhammad Afzal Guru, he said, “The execution was judicial murder and a horrendous example of state terrorism”.
“He (Afzal) did not receive a free and fair trial and even his family was not informed before the execution took place”, he said adding that rather handing over the dead body to his relatives, Indian authorities buried him in the premises of Tihar Jail.
“Extremist elements involved in Samjauta Express bombing, Surat, Mumbai and Gujarat riots were not sentenced despite having ample evidence against them,” he said.
Referring to prevailing situation in Kashmir, he said that uninterrupted curfew, killing of innocent civilians by forces, restrictions on print and electronic media and detention of Hurriyat leaders continues.
Salah-u-Din flayed Pakistani government’s silence over the issue and termed the country’s interior minister Rehaman Malik’s recent statement as highly condemnable.
Terming Pakistan as an important party to the dispute, he said that Pakistan must adopt a coherent policy on the issue keeping in view the sentiments and aspirations of the people of the region. Otherwise, he warned that the situation in the region might be different.
He said that India was hell bent on to change the demography of the country. “Jammu and Kashmir is Muslim majority state and India on the pattern of Israel is making every effort to settle non-state-subjects in the state by issuing them state subjects and permanent residence certificates”.
Earlier, the militant leaders, while reiterating their resolve to continue the armed struggle till its logical conclusion said “Jihad was the only solution to Kashmir dispute.”
 “What we saw over the recent years was that death sentences were awarded to Kashmiris and Muhammad Afzal Guru was now hanged in Tihar Jail”, they said. 
 “Pakistani ruler’s policy of befriending India and the policies like initiating cricket diplomacy and granting MFN status to India had adversely affected the resistance movement in Kashmir,” they said.
Deputy chairman of UJC Muhammad Usman said a strong resistance movement was must to resolve Kashmir dispute.
He said that the peace process and so-called Aman ki Asha were nothing but a deceit and deception.
“The people who kept harping on political settlement of Kashmir for last several years can they justify their stand now,” said Moulana Farooq the chief Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. Mufti Asghar of Jaish Muhammad paid tributes to Guru.

Guru’s execution miscarriage of justice: Kashmiri leaders

PAK TO OBSERVE SHUTDOWN TODAY

NISAR AHMED THOKAR

Islamabad, Jan 10: Denouncing the hanging of Afzal Guru the Kashmiri leaders hailing from both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) on Sunday termed his execution as “miscarriage of justice” and a stark violation of basic human rights.
Kashmiri leaders who visited the hunger strike camp of JKLF chief Muhammad Yasin Malik in Islamabad today expressed grief over Afzal’s hanging.  
Speaking on the occasion PaK Prime Minister Chudhary Majeed said: “By hanging Afzal Guru New Delhi has committed murder of democracy. Kashmiri people are engaged in a just struggle. At this hour of grief the people as well as all the political parties of PaK stood by our Kashmiri brethren and shall continue all out support to Kashmir cause.”
He announced that a complete strike would be observed in PaK on (Monday) as a mark of protest against the hanging of Guru.
Speaking briefly on the occasion, PML-N leader Shah Ghulam Qadir, Abdul Rasheed Turabi, Mehmood Ahmed Saghar, G N Nowshari and Professor Hafiz Saeed said that such acts won’t deter Kashmiris from pursuing their collective cause. Expressing complete solidarity with the people of Kashmir, they said that the incumbent regime must shun its policy of appeasing to India.
Expressing reservations vis-à-vis the budding bonhomie between the two countries speakers said since the initiation of dialogue process and enhancing trade ties it has been observed that the India’s approach had become even more aggressive and cunning against Kashmiris.
They said during recent years more than two dozen Kashmiri youth were awarded life imprisonment sentences and now the hanging of Guru was yet another startling revelation of Indian high handedness and cruelty.
They said that in view of the unprecedented sacrifices rendered by the people of Kashmir, the government as well as the political leadership of the country (Pak) must adopt a clear cut policy on Kashmir. “On one hand peace talks, trade, exchange of cultural delegations and peace marches are being held while on the other Kashmiris are being killed and hanged to death mercilessly”, they said adding that Indo-Pak dialogue process and human rights violations in Kashmir can’t go together. The speakers also demanded the Government of India to handover the body of Guru to his family.

GURU’S EXECUTION HAS EXPOSED DEMOCRACY: MALIK 
Speaking on the occasion, the JKLF chief Muhammad Yasin Malik who was on a hunger strike for past 24 hours said that the hanging of Guru had exposed “so-called democracy” at international level. Expressing deep shock and sorrow over the execution, he said the announcement regarding Guru’s hanging was made three hours after when he was put to death secretly in the premises of highly guarded Tihar jail. “The blood of innocents won’t go in a vain,” he said adding that this is the word of Allah, the almighty.
“The peace-loving people across the globe are deeply hurt and were shocked by this decision,” he said.
Quoting human rights organizations reports on the issue he said the incident of Guru’s hanging was condemned at international level.
Referring to renowned Indian human rights activists Tepan Bose, he said that Bose had expressed grave concern over the situation. “I’m very upset over the sorry state of affairs, my country has become blood-thirsty country”, Malik quoted Bose as saying.
JKLF chief said that it was high time that the Indian civil society must think whether they would allow the RSS and extremists elements to took over reins of the country and impose their agenda on the people who claim to be the largest democracy in the world.
Later, funeral prayers of Afzal Guru in absentia were held outside the National Press Club. The funeral prayer was led by JI leader Ghulam Nabi Nowshahri and attended by Kashmir leaders from both sides of the LoC.
A large number of people hailing from different walks of life including politicians, civil society representative, journalists and Kashmiri traders attended the funeral prayers.
Besides Chudhary Abdul Majeed, the prime minister of PaK, Deputy speaker Shaheen Kousar Dar, leaders of both the factions of Hurriyat Conference, heads of political and religious parties from PaK, civil society representatives and JKLF leaders including the supreme head of the party Ammanullah Khan, PML(N) secretary general Shah Ghulam Qadir, advocate Nabila Ershad, APHC convener Mehmood Ahmed Saghar, Moulana Ghulam Nabi Nowshahri, JI chief Abdul Rasheed Turabi and Jammat-u-Dawa chief Professor Hafiz Saeed and others visited the camp to express solidarity with Malik and the bereaved family of Guru.

Handover Guru’s body: Malik

NISAR AHMED THOKAR

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Islamabad, Feb 9: Terming Guru’s hanging as a blot on Indian democracy, the Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Muhammad Yasin Malik on Saturday said that his execution by New Delhi had speckled its democracy besides ravaging the every dimension of humanity and humanism.
 While addressing a press conference here on Saturday, the JKLF chief said: “We strongly protest against this highly condemnable act and urge the international community to take effective notice of the situation”, Malik said adding that the extreme decision was taken to satisfy the Indian masses.
 Referring to the Supreme Court verdict against Guru, he said that the judgment clearly stated that he (Guru) was neither involved in conspiracy nor in the execution of attack but the decision was taken to appease the people of the country. He said that the Supreme Court judge had also maintained that there was no direct evidence against the accused.
 He said that way back in 2006 JKLF staged a strong protest in front of Jantar Mantar in New Delhi to press the Government of India for the revocation of the decision regarding the death sentence against Guru. He said that following the SC decision he met Indian civil society as well as leaders of opposition parties wherein they pledged to be sympathetic but it was very unfortunate that today we woke up to this terribly shocking news of sending Guru to the gallows.
 Regarding Guru’s burial in the premises of Tihar jail, he said that authorities did not even inform to the children and his family about the hanging, “Which is in fact a serious violation of basic human rights and international law”.
  He said that Kashmiri students who were protesting against the execution of Afazl Guru were manhandled and attacked by the RSS activists in Delhi. “Even female students who were peacefully protesting were physically assaulted by the RSS goons”, he said.
 Expressing concern over the growing extremism in Indian society he said, “Whose rule was in India today. I tried to find the sole of Mahatma Gandhi but could not find it anywhere”, Malik said adding that he found the killers of Gandhi who were disrespecting the democracy. He said that RSS had virtually taken over India. “See how cheap has become the blood of Kashmiri youth now”, he said adding that sending Guru to the gallows was just a bid to take advantage in the forthcoming general elections.
 He said that India did a big blunder in 1984 thereby hanging late Maqbool Bhat but that did not work and to the contrary we saw that the hanging of Bhat gave birth to thousands of Maqbools in Kashmir. “New Delhi is at fault, if they feel that they will suppress the movement by sending Kashmiri youth to the gallows, more than seven lakh soldiers deployed in Kashmir could not break the political resolve of Kashmiri people”, he added.
 He also condemned the firing on peaceful protesters in Sopore and urged the people of Kashmir to continue peaceful protests against the gruesome act by Indian authorities.
 The JKLF chairman said that he would go for a 24 hour hunger strike to press the International community as well as the civil society of India to play their role regarding the handing over Guru’s dead body to his family for last rites.
 Regarding Indo-Pak dialogue process he said that despite years long talks process no headway was made regarding the resolution of Kashmir. “To the contrary we see 31 Kashmiri youth were awarded life imprisonment sentences and now Afzal Guru was hanged in Tihar and his body was not handed over to his family, which is quite pathetic and a violation of law”, he said.

Bilateral ties: Salah-ud-Din asks Pakistan to ‘take Kashmiris’ sentiments into account’

NISAR AHMED THOKAR

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Islamabad, Feb 5: Thanking the people and the government of Pakistan for observing Kashmir Solidarity Day, the Chairman of the United Jihad Council (UJC) Syed Salah-ud-Din Tuesday said “Pakistan can’t remain indifferent to Kashmir and the sufferings of Kashmiri nation, which is an important party to the dispute.”
 According to a UJC statement, Salah-ud-Din made the remarks while addressing an extraordinary session of the Council here.
 On bilateral relationship between India and Pakistan, Salah-ud-Din said there was a dire need that the political leadership of Pakistan takes into account feelings and sentiments of Kashmiri nation while forging bilateral ties with India.
 He alleged that the Indian leadership was “sowing the seeds of distrust and hatred” amongst the Kashmiri masses towards Pakistan. However, he stated that “observance of Kashmir Solidarity Day by the people of Pakistan amply demonstrates the fact that the entire Pakistani nation is supporting Kashmiris in their struggle for right to self-determination.”
 He said Pakistan should also take appropriate measures to “highlight the plight of Kashmiris, thereby launching an effective media and diplomatic campaign.”
 He expressed hope that the day was not far “when the people of Kashmir would achieve their cherished goal.” He assured the Kashmiri nation that “all-out efforts would be made to foil nefarious designs of the enemy.”