Legislator from Kashmir’s Langate constituency Er Abdur Rashid on Tuesday staged protests outside the Assembly complex here and demanded right to self-determination for the people living on both sides of the Line of Control.
Holding a banner which read “right to self-determination the only way out”, Rashid said that the only solution to the Kashmir issue was to grant this right to the people living on both sides of the LoC.
“I am not against the Indian Constitution,” he said, adding: “But promises made with Kashmiris in the United Nations should be fulfilled. Kashmir is neither integral part of India nor jugular vein of Pakistan.”
Rashid said that if Kashmir is not an issue, then what New Delhi has appointed its interlocutor Dineshwar Sharma for.
“Why they are appointing interlocutors for talks? What is Dineshwar Sharma doing in Kashmir then?” he asked.
He alleged that the government of India is using J&K Chief Minister as a “rubber stamp.”
“New Delhi has made our Chief Minister a rubber stamp because she has no powers to stop civilian killings in Kashmir,” he said, adding that Kashmir issue “cannot be solved through NIA raids, arrests and frequent crackdowns.”
He said that the “coercive” and “arm-twisting” policies of New Delhi are “pushing Kashmiri youth to the wall.”
“These policies are forcing a 16-year-old boy to become fidayeen (suicide attacker),” he said.