WASHINGTON, Feb 11 (APP): Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, Secretary-General of the Washington-based World Kashmir Awareness Forum, has paid rich tributes to Kashmiri leader Maqbool Butt on the 38th anniversary of his martyrdom, saying he laid down his life struggling for the exercise of Kashmiri people’s UN-pledged right to self-determination.
“His formula for Kashmir was simple but powerful, the aspirations of the Kashmiri people must be ascertained,” he said in a statement.
“The Government of India could jail Shaheed Maqbool Bhat and silence him by execution, but they could not silence his ultimate desire, the struggle for the people of Kashmir for self-determination,” Fai said.
“The spirit of Maqbool Butt is alive.”
“Today,” he said, Maqbool Butt is an inspiration to millions of Kashmiris and those striving for human rights and human dignity.
“Since his execution, February 11 has been observed by all Kashmiris as a black day of mourning for the martyr of a brave Kashmiri statesman,” Fai added.
“Maqbool Butt gave a lesson to the generations to come that it is very hard but only choice to accept martyrdom instead of slavery”.
“While we must pay rich tributes to the memory of this great martyr, our true tribute will be emancipation of the Kashmiri people from under the Indian brutal occupation and senseless subjugation.”
“We demanded that the Government of India return the mortal remains of Shaheed Maqbool Butt and Shaheed Afzal Guru to their relatives in Kashmir,” Fai said, pointing out it that it was a sacrilege to have kept them in India.
