ISLAMABAD: Mushaal Hussein Mullick, wife of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Yasin Malik, has condemned the banning of the party by Indian authorities and said the unlawful act once again exposed the dirty face of the so-called largest democratic country before the world.

Ms Mullick, who is chairperson of the Pakistan Peace and Culture organisation, in a statement on Saturday said that brutal Indian authorities believed that they could silence the powerful voice of Kashmiri people by banning Yasin Malik’s party and putting him behind bars under draconian laws. But, she added, the Indian authorities should keep in mind that such tactics would serve no purpose, rather they would further complicate things for the occupation forces.

She said that the oppressors could neither change the reality of the Kashmir dispute nor deprive the Kashmiri people of their legitimate right to self-determination anymore through such tactics.

Ms Mullick said that after a crackdown on Jamaat-i-Islami, India was now trying to silence the pro-freedom voices by lodging fake cases and enforcing inhuman draconian laws on unarmed Kashmiris. But, she added, such brutal tactics won’t work.

She said that the Indian authorities were afraid of Yasin Malik’s rising popularity since he was the most powerful voice of Kashmiri people. Hence, he had been put behind bars and his party had been banned, she added.

Ms Mullick said that the India government trumpeted the mantra of being the largest democracy, but democracy was a distant dream in the territory where people were treated in such fashion.

She urged world powers to play their due role in finding a solution to the decades-long Kashmir dispute before it became too late as the Indian occupation forces’ barbarism had crossed all limits.

Ms Mullick condemned the Indian authorities for placing Hurriyat Forum chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq under house arrest in Srinagar. Mr Farooq was confined to his Nigeen residence ahead of a proposed protest after Friday prayers announced by the Joint Resistance Leadership against the custodial killing of a school principal, Rizwan Asad Pandit.

Yasin Malik-led JKLF was banned by the Indian government on Friday for its pro-freedom activities in India-held Kashmir.

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2019