Srinagar: Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) on Saturday condemned and ridiculed the “outrageous and dictatorial ordinance” of the Jammu and Kashmir government calling for imprisonment for those who call and observe shutdown as a form of protest.
In a statement, the JRL comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik said that observing shutdown is a universally accepted democratic and peaceful right of protest and resistance and fixing a punishment for it reflects the “totalitarian and repressive mindset of the anti-people ruling regime.”
The leadership said that tall claims of “healing touch” and “battle of ideas” by Mehbooba Mufti and her party before coming to power, have all come to naught.
JRL said issuing ordinance calling for imprisonment for shutdowns is with a view to instil fear of retribution and punishment among the resistance leadership and people of Kashmir in order to discourage them from raising their voice against oppression and for demanding their right to self-determination.
“But like all such previous repressive measures it is bound to fail,” said the JRL. They said that shutdown is an accepted and acknowledged way of resisting oppression and injustice across the world. “…and that it should stand clear that resistance leadership will continue with this right no matter how much government would try to choke our voice.”
