Srinagar, Feb 13: Reacting to media reports on the Government of India’s proposed action against its chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik for “sharing dais” with Jamat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Sayeed in Pakistan recently, the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Wednesday said the Front leaders and activists “always considered jail as their second home” and they were “not afraid of prisons and gallows.”
The JKLF’s acting chairman Bashir Ahmad Bhat, who was telephonically addressing the party’s executive council meeting here, said: “We consider jail as our second home and anybody who is trying to frighten us or our chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik of jails and gallows must remember that these intimidations cannot stop us from pursuing the path of truth and freedom.”
He said: “JKLF stands for complete independence of Jammu Kashmir and will never shun the path of struggle till the achievement of this goal.”
The meeting, according to a Front spokesman, was attended by all the JKLF leaders and members of the Council. The meeting, he said, discussed in length the ongoing ‘poisonous propaganda’ of some Indian channels and Indian political parties against the JKLF chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik. “The members also discussed various issues including the martyrdom of Muhammad Afzal Guru and the situation thereafter, refusal of Indian authorities to hand over his body to the family, continued curfew and the problems faced by the general masses because of the restrictions, arrest of many leaders and common people including kids by police, firing and other repressive measures to stop people from peaceful protests,” the spokesman added.
Bhat said, “To divert the attention of people and world, which is strongly condemning the government of India’s act of illegal hanging of Muhammad Afzal Guru and refusal of handing over his body to the family, some Indian TV channels, political parties and rulers have started a vicious campaign against JKLF chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik.”  “JKLF is a party whose leader Muhammad Maqbool Butt and hundreds of others have spent years of their lives in jails. Our history bears witness to this fact and it was our leader Muhammad Maqbool Butt who kissed gallows but never compromised on his principles. We are the followers of Shaheed Muhammad Maqbool Butt who showed us the path of struggle and sacrifices. Jails and gallows cannot stop us from moving on the path of truth and struggle,” Butt said, adding that “India illegally sent Muhammad Afzal Guru to gallows and is inhumanely keeping his body in jail. This is actually another deep wound on our soul by the rulers of India and no Kashmiri will ever forget this cruelty.”
Condemning the removal of epitaph of Afzal Guru from the martyrs’ graveyard here, Bhat said, “JKLF has kept a grave for the burial of Guru at Mazar- I-Shuhada, Eid Gah as has been kept for Shaheed Maqbool Butt. We, with national consensus and unity, will bring back their mortal remains and bury them with honor and dignity in the graves kept for them.”
Condemning the continued curfew in Kashmir, Bhat said the government of India and its ‘puppets’ in the State have kept millions of Kashmiris hostage by these oppressive measures.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 13 Feb 2013 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 13 Feb 2013 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 14 Feb 2013 00:00:00 IST