LISTEN TO OUR ‘MANN KI BAAT’: MIRWAIZ TO PM

SRINAGAR: Moderate separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq invoked Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s monthly radio address on Friday and asked him to allow Kashmiris to carry out a peaceful protest march during his visit on Saturday and listen to “our Mann Ki Baat”.

Mirwaiz wanted the cessation of security operations, which the Centre announced for the holy month of Ramzan, to be made a permanent feature and be followed by demilitarisation before the final resolution of Kashmir issue.

“Mr Modi, all have been listening to your ‘Mann ki baat’ for years now. As you come here tomorrow, allow us Kashmiris to peacefully gather at Lal Chowk so that you hear our ‘Mann ki baat’! It’s just three words: Resolve Kashmir Dispute,” he said in a tweet tagging Modi.

The protest march was called by separatist leaders, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Yasin Malik, to register their demand for “freedom for which we have been sacrificing our lives for the past 70 years”.

Modi is scheduled to visit Kashmir on Saturday and inaugurate projects in the state.

Addressing the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar earlier in the day, Mirwaiz said their call for protest march to Lal Chowk on Saturday and to the Eidgah graveyard on Monday was a test for both the central and the state government on their claims of being the world’s best democracy.

Instead of addressing gatherings, the marchers would hold placards to convey their messages, he said, stressing that they should be allowed to hold the rallies. Modi’s visit comes two days after Centre asked security forces in Jammu and Kashmir not to launch operations during Ramzan to help Muslims observe the holy month peacefully.

Mirwaiz said if the government is sincere, they should make the ‘Ramzan ceasefire’ permanent. “… Goodwill gestures or CBMs (confidence building measures) cannot be meant for a month alone, but have to be long term and meaningful,” he said.