Indian SC verdict on Kashmir’s special status exposes India’s judiciary: APHC leaders

The All Parties Hurriyat Conference leaders and parties have said that the Indian Supreme Court’s verdict on Kashmir’s special status has exposed the Indian judiciary to the world.

According to Kashmir Media Service, the Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples League Ghulam Muhammad Khan Sopori, Chairperson of Jammu and Kashmir Mass Movement Farida Behenji, Jammu and Kashmir National Front General Secretary Shafiq-ur-Rehman, Chairman of Tehreek-e-Wahdat-e-Islami Fayyaz Hussain Jafari and head of Pirvan-e-Wilayat Syed Sibte Shabbir Qummi, General Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir Young Men’s League Shakeel ur Rahman, spokesperson of Democratic Freedom Party Advocate Arshad Iqbal, Jammu and Kashmir Muslim League, Tehreek-e-Hurriyet, Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference, spokesperson  of Kashmir Tehreek-e-Khawateen Ms Hafza, Ittehad-e-Islami spokesman Advocate Mudasir Siddiqi, Jammu and Kashmir Youth Social Forum Chairman Maulana Musaib Nadvi and Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Sikh Intellectuals Circle, Narinder Singh Khalsa in their separate statements issued in Srinagar said, Indian Supreme Court, which has fully endorsed the government’s decision, has virtually provided it a sort of free licence to carry forward the Bharatiya Janata Party agenda that seeks to control the entire Kashmir, its people, land and resources by any means.

They said such an authoritarian approach, which goes against the well-established principles of norms and justice, may perhaps help the present government of India to strengthen its control over the territory but it won’t help it in any way to suppress the people’s resistance against Indian occupation.

A judicious and more reasonable judgment on the part of the Indian judiciary could have been instrumental in providing a breathing space to bewildered masses back in Kashmir but the judges seem to have preferred to satisfy the collective conscience of those Indians falling in line with BJP polices the way their brother judges did in the cases of Babri Masjid and Afzal Guru.

The Supreme Court ruling, it is clearly evident that the verdict is against the spirit of the United Nations charter and resolutions that acknowledge the Kashmiris’ inalienable right to self-determination and recognise its disputed status, they maintained.