SRINAGAR, India, 22 January 2007 — The United Jihad Council (UJC), a conglomerate militant groups based in Azad Kashmir, has condemned the moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq’s call for an end to the armed struggle in Kashmir and pledged “to continue the insurgency till the attainment of the right to self determination.”
The Mirwaiz, who is heading a three-member APHC delegation currently on a visit to Pakistan, on Saturday sought an end to the armed struggle, maintaining that “violence has achieved nothing other than increasing the number of graveyards in Kashmir.”
“Peaceful negotiations are the only way out. We have already seen the result of our fight on the political, diplomatic and military fronts which have not achieved anything other than creating more graveyards,” the Mirwaiz was quoted by the media in Pakistan as saying after his meetings with the Pakistani leadership.
Taking strong exception to Umar Farooq’s advice, Syed Sadaqat Hussain, spokesman for the United Jihad Council, said in a statement: “The statement of the Mirwaiz may please some Western circles and Indian leaders, but it cannot change the ground realities,
“Kashmiris resorted to the armed struggle only after the political, constitutional and diplomatic struggle of 42 years failed to bear any fruit. Since the beginning of the armed struggle, 100,000 people have lost their lives.”
The group said the Kashmiris “have not made these sacrifices for self-rule, internal autonomy or for an irrelevant Line of Control.”
Questioning the flexibility shown by the Mirwaiz-led APHC in talks with the Indian government, the conglomerate said the “moderate group couldn’t even secure the release of two Kashmiri prisoners.”
“If the Indian government could push the most popular Kashmiri leader, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, to the wall, then what is the worth of these people who have conflicting views and interest. If the Mirwaiz and other leaders of his ilk have become tired, disenchanted or hopeless about the future of the freedom struggle due to adverse circumstances, we suggest they sit back in their homes and live a life of comfort. But they should not preach cowardice and hopelessness to Kashmiris,” the statement added.
The UJC, headed by Hizbul Mujahedeen supreme commander Syed Salahuddin, also rejected the statement of the Mirwaiz that the UN Security Council resolutions on Kashmir were redundant. “Those who say such things appear to have forgotten the fact that these resolutions made Pakistan, a party to the Kashmir dispute,” the statement added.
