By Muhammad Ashraf
ISLAMABAD, Jul 16 (APP): A symbol of fresh Kashmiri resistance, Burhan Muzaffar Wani, otherwise a cricket-loving boy, sacrificed his life, representing determined aspirations of new generation to break the shackles of Indian occupation.
Paying tributes to Burhan Wani, Chairman All Parties Hurriyat Conference , Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said that “The young and educated Kashmiri boys are part of the struggle at the indigenous level and they are not the ones going anywhere outside for training nor is anyone anchoring them from behind,”.
Wani was born to a highly-educated upper-class Kashmiri family in Dadsara village of Tral area of Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir. Burhan’s story began on a summer evening in 2010 (during the summer agitation when 130 civilians were gunned down by Indian forces), when he, his brother Khalid and a friend were riding a motorbike in Tral and were stopped by occupied Indian forces, ordered them to bring cigarettes for them, and in return
beaten and humiliated for no reason at all. In 2015, Wani’s brother Khalid was killed by Indian forces. The loss further strengthened Burhan’s resolve to fight the Indian state and entice Kashmiri youth through the social networking media.
Mirwaiz says, there is no political space as the Indian government in 2010 quelled the street protests through force and tried to intimidate people by killing innocents.However, this tactics has miserably failed in occupied Kashmir as Kashmiris times and again bounced back to challenge the occupation.
Burhan did not embark on a lonely journey. Many teenagers and youth in the Valley have been victims of similar oppression and faced humiliation on dialy basis.
Some among them picked up the gun, forced by the stifling and oppressive atmosphere and inspired by political aspirations of `Azaadi’ (freedom) which remain unaddressed, politically.
Burhan Wani is a symbol of the resistance againt the oppression and his sacrifice motiviate youth to continue in his footstep.
“There is no denying that people feel a sense of desperation. People feel India is just not ready to engage or even acknowledge the sentiments in Kashmir,” said Mirwaiz.
The oppression by Indian forces forced Burhan to abandon everything and work for freedom of Kashmir. “He became a militant not only because he was oppressed but because he saw so many others being oppressed by the army. He couldn’t take it anymore,” said Burhan’s father, Muzaffar Wani in an interview to Hindustan Times.
For many observers, it is Indian intransigence that is pushing the Kashmiris towards choosing the other path. Had India honoured its own promises made to Kashmiris and respected the United Nations resolutions, the situation would have been different.
“India was never serious to resolve Kashmir issue. It has been using brute force as a strategy to quell the struggle of Kashmiris and the people of the soil have no option but to stand for resistance when they are pushed against wall,” said an APHC representative in Azad Kashmir leader Syed Kifayat while talking to APP.
He said that Burhan Wani is the voice of youth and he represents youth of Kashmir who are determined to continue their struggle against Indian rule till they achieve the goal of freedom.
Wani was part of a new generation of young, educated Kashmiri youth using social media to spread their demands for independence from Indian rule and Wani was extremely
active on social media, and did not hide his identity behind a mask. He was known for utilizing social media for promotion of freedom struggle and motivating youth to play their
due role in getting freedom from Indian bondage.
“Burhan Wani created awareness among Kashmiri youth about their rights using social media in a most effective manner and now the indigenous freedom movement had got
further strength,” Kifayat added.
Wani was martyred in an encounter in Islamabad (Anantnag) region of South Kashmir, by Indian security forces, followed by the mass protest demonstration and again the use of brute force which so far claimed over 40 lives of innocent people and injuries thousands.
The use of excessive force against innocent civilians protesting peacefully over extrajudicial killings is deplorable and blatant violation of the right to life, right to freedom of expression and opinion, right to peaceful protest, right to peaceful assembly and other fundamental rights, said a Kashmiri journalist, Rais Ahmed Mir.
The extra-judicial killing of Kashmiri leader Burhan Wani and scores of other innocent Kashmiris is deplorable and condemnable; such acts are a violation of the fundamental human rights of Kashmiris and cannot deter the people of Jammu and Kashmir from their demand for the realization of the right to self-determination, he added.
Brutalities of Indian forces, by killing Kashmiri leaders like Burhan Wani, were compelling innocent youth to take up arms for their legitimate right to self-determination in Occupied Kashmir. International community should take immediate notice of the killings of Kashmiri leader Burhan Wani and others in Indian Held Kashmir (IHK) by the Indian military and paramilitary forces.
It is deplorable that excessive and unlawful force was used against the civilians who were protesting against the killing of Burhan Wani. Oppressive measures cannot deter the
valiant people of Jammu and Kashmir from their demand of exercising their right to self- determination in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions.
After the killing of Burhaan Muzaffar Wani, the way in which whole Kashmir is being terrorized by the police, forces and army is glaring example of the oppressive behaviour and the dictatorial mindset of Indian rulers and their Kashmiri stooges.
India and its forces have started a war against Kashmiris to keep its illegal occupation on Kashmir in-tact and within some hours more than two dozen innocents have lost their lives as a result. Today the police and the forces were not even sparing those who were injured or their families and even the hospital wards had been turned into torture centers for them.
“The international community must intervene and take immediate notice of the killings of Kashmiris and the atrocities committed by Indian occupation forces,” said Chairman National Assembly Standing Committee on Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Malik Abrar Ahmed while talking to APP.
He said Indian forces, by killing Kashmiri leaders like Burhan Wani, were compelling innocent youth to take up arms for their legitimate right to self-determination in held Kashmir.
He said Kashmir wanted to get their right to self-determination as per the resolutions passed by the United Nations Security Council. While India was consistently carrying out massive human rights violations to suppress them, leaving no option for them, other than the resistance struggle.
