Protestors in UK to denounce custodial murder of Kashmiri leader Altaf Ahmed Shah

BIRMINGHAM – Paying glorious tributes to Altaf Ahmad Shah, Kashmiri resistance leader who attained martyrdom on Oct. 10, allies and supporters of Kashmiris in the UK on Friday held demonstrations against India’s genocidal policies in Indian Illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIoJK).

The demonstrators called out genocidal policies of India in IIoJK under which the fascist regime in New Delhi wants to eliminate the Kashmiris who seek implementation of UN resolutions which grant right to self-determination to people of IIoJK.

Led by Tehreek-e-Kashmir UK leader Fahim Kayani, the demonstrators remined the United Nations of its delayed role in ending military occupation of Kashmir by India.

Kayani said the custodial murder of Shah is a “dooms day call” for the UN to wake up and save lives of innocent Kashmiris.

“Shaheed Altaf Shah Sahab proved his loyalty to cause of freedom of Kashmir from India by his life,” said Kayani, president of Tehreek-e-Kashmir UK.

66-year-old Shah attained martyrdom at a hospital in New Delhi, on the night of Oct, 10, where he was under custody of Indian forces. Shah was detained in infamous Tihar jail since 2017 under trumped up charges. Indian fascist authorities could not prove a single charge against Shah and other All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leaders who are also being illegally detained.

Shah was on-in-law of Kashmiri resistance icon Shaheed Syed Ali Geelani who attained martyrdom last year in September.

He was suffering from renal cancer, diabetes, and other serious ailments but was denied proper medical care.

Shah was shifted to a hospital after public outcry over his health.

“Shaheed Altaf Shah was loyal to Shaheed Geelani Sahab and worked shoulder to shoulder with the Kashmiri resistance icon,” said Kayani.

Altaf Shah’s association with Kashmir freedom movement extends decades. He started his activism with Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba in Indian Illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIoJK) in 1970s. Later he joined Jama’at-e-Islami IIoJK from where he was transferred to Tehreek-e-Hurriyat IIoJK which was founded in 2004 by Shaheed Geelani and Shaheed Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai. Sehrai was also killed in custody last year in May.

Before Sehrai, Ghulam Mohammad Bhat, 65, a former member of the banned religious-political organization Jama’at-e-Islami IIoJK, became the first political prisoner to die in an Indian prison after Aug 5, 2019, when India re-annexed Kashmir.

Bhat, who had been arrested on July 17, 2019, died in December 2019 in Naini jail in India’s Uttar Pradesh province, hundreds of kilometers away from his home.

Muhammad Ghalib President Tehreek-e-Kashmir Europe said the inaction by the UN and international community in the recent custodial murders of Kashmiris has “emboldened India to go on a killing spree of Kashmiris who are illegally detained in jails.”

“Our Hurriyat Conference leaders in Indian jails are faces of Kashmiri resistance to illegal Indian occupation,” Ghalib said. “India is following a design to eliminate any Kashmiri who raises his or her voice for freedom. This is to make people in IIoJK forget their leaders but Kashmiris will not let India a free passage. We will stand tall against all such colonial attempts by a fascist state i.e. India.”

The protestors said the inaction by the UN and other international organizations like International Criminal Court and UN Human Rights Council raises questions about their impartiality.

“People have lost their trust in these global organizations meant to ensure peace and justice,” they said.

Ch Muhammad Sharif Senior Vice President TeK UK, Khawajah Muhammad Suleman Incharge KIRC TeK UK , Ch Ikram ul Haq President TeK Birmingham, Qamar Abbas Vice President TeK Birmingham, Raja Muhammad Aslam Incharge Kashmir campaign Haroonia mosque , Mulana Khalid ، Mulana Iqbal Awan , Aqdis Mughal Incharge Media South Zone TeK UK, Mulana Khalid , Syed Ashiq Hussain Kazami , Shabir Hussain CEC member TeK , Syed Zeeshan Shah Deputy Sec South Zone TeK UK and all Kashmiri leadership urged State of Pakistan, Kashmiri leadership in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the APHC and Kashmiri diaspora to reflect on the situation in IIoJK.

“If we do not stand up this time, India will continue these unabated custodial murders of Kashmiris,” they said, proposing an international conference on Kashmiri political prisoners illegally detained in Indian jails.

“Let us put our heads together and bring together international law experts and deliberate how to bring India to international courts,” they said.