Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the chairman of the Hurriyat (M) on Friday said that New Delhi was forced to shun it’s rigid stand on dialogue due to the sacrifices of the Kashmiri youth.
During his Friday sermon, he also pointed out that whether this new approach of New Delhi is the result of ‘change in policy’ or ‘change in circumstances’, the Hurriyat Conference and Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) is not in hurry as they they are keenly watching the political developments in New Delhi.
“Only time will tell and it will be seen what new Delhi’s approach will be? But the fact is that they say one thing in Kashmir and its opposite in Delhi. The Government says one thing and its ministers say the other thing. We are not in hurry, but if it is change in policy we will welcome it and have already welcomed it,” Mirwaiz said.
Mirwaiz added that from the the past 30 years in particular Kashmiris are facing brutal occupation but it worsened in the last four years of the BJP-PDP rule when the harshest of repression measures were tried and tested.
“It is the failure of this harsh policy and the resultant international pressure that today we see the ‘softening’ in their stand. It’s the change in circumstance rather than change in heart,” said Mirwaiz.
Mirwaiz stressed that this change in circumstances was brought in because of the persistence and commitment of the people to their struggle for asserting their right to decide their destiny and rejecting the occupation.
“It is the blood and sacrifice of our youth, their zeal and courage to stand up to the might of the third largest military power in the world which is no small feat. It’s this commitment , this fearlessness of the people in the face of extreme repression that has forced GoI and its generals to talk of lose -lose for both sides if military option is pursued further .It’s not a small achievement that the determination of our youth made the world’s third largest military might admit this,” he said.
Mirwaiz was addressing a large gathering at Jamia Masjid on Friday prayers- the last Friday of Ramadhan observed as Youm-e-Quds.
