Clarion India
NEW DELHI – While extending greetings for Eid, former Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti said Muslims in India were facing “unprecedented onslaught from the BJP and its militant political arms”.
She saluted the “fortitude and patience” displayed by them in Kashmir and other parts of India. “Muslims truly lived Ramzan this year in the spirit of the holy month by facing an unprecedented onslaught on the community by the BJP governments and its militant political arms across the country with exemplary patience that’s generally associated with early days of Islam,” she said in a statement.
“While the bulldozer became the symbol of state terror against the community, the demons of hate unleashed by the government seem to be on a rampage in every form of their choice, depending on the occasion and BJP’s Hindu Rashtra roadmap,” she said.
Expressing grief over the killing of the armed forces personnel, Mehbooba said they were becoming cannon fodder because of the failure of the leadership.
Raising the issue of closure of Srinagar’s grand mosque, she said: “Our hallowed grand mosque, Jama Masjid, continues to be out of bound for Muslims even for Eid prayers, causing great hurt and sorrow to them, as does the prolonged detention of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.”
Mehbooba reiterated that her party would continue its political and democratic fight. “While we would continue our struggle through all democratic and peaceful means, we miss on this Eid our young and old prisoners of all ages who are in jails in and out of Kashmir without any charges… Our heart goes out to the families of those who lost their dear ones in staged encounters and those who were targeted for their political or religious affiliations,” she said.
She also expressed her solidarity with arrested journalists, human rights and political activists.
“We stand in solidarity with them and human rights defenders like Khurram Parvez. While in rest of the country young Muslim intellectuals like Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam are in jail on trumped up charges, our own Youth President Wahid ur Rehman Para has set new standards of resilience and silent resistance to targeted victimisation for following a democratic path,” she added.
