In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, shutdown is being observed on Saturday, to mark the 39th martyrdom anniversary of prominent Kashmiri leader, Muhammad Maqbool Butt. Call for the shutdown has been given by All Parties Hurriyat Conference and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front. Indian Army and police had warned the shopkeepers to keep their shops open otherwise their outlets will be sealed. However, despite the threat, shopkeepers in most parts of the Valley are observing shutdown to remember their martyred leader.

The occupation authorities have also deployed Indian troops and police personnel in strength across the Kashmir Valley to prevent people from staging demonstrations against the execution of Maqbool Butt. Indian authorities had hanged Muhammad Maqbool Butt in New Delhi’s Tihar Jail on this day in 1984 for his leading role in the Kashmiris’ ongoing freedom movement and buried him in the premises of the prison. Analysts in Srinagar told the media that although Government of India had jailed Maqbool Butt and silenced him by sending him to the gallows but failed to silence his ultimate desire – the struggle for the people of Kashmir for self-determination.

Meanwhile, illegally detained APHC Chairman, Masarrat Aalam Butt, and Shabbir Ahmed Shah, in their messages from New Delhi’s Tihar Jail and other leaders in their statements in Srinagar eulogized the sacrifices of Muhammad Maqbool Butt for the Kashmir cause. They maintained that the martyrs are the symbols of the Kashmiris’ freedom struggle against Indian yoke. They said the sacrifices of Kashmiri martyrs will not be allowed to go waste and their mission will be accomplished at all costs.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP