Neither Kashmir nor Kashmiris Belong To India: Yasin Malik

Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Chairman, Mohammad Yasin Malik has said that neither Kashmir nor Kashmiris belong to India.

According to media sources, Mohammad Yasin Malik in a statement issued in Srinagar while reacting to the recent assertions of the Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh and other leaders, who said  that Kashmir, Kashmiris and Kashmiriyat belonged to them (India) only. Yasin Malik said that Indian parliament, Indian leaders like Nehru, United Nations and other forums time and again had pledged Kashmiris their right to self-determination but when Kashmiris ask for fulfillment of the pledges they are being killed, maimed, blinded and arrested. “So Kashmir does not belong to India but to Kashmiris who are its masters and heirs,” he added. The JKLF Chairman said if Kashmiris are with India then Indian leadership should feel safe in providing them the right to choose their future because according to Rajnath Singh’s belief then, Kashmiris will vote in favor of India. Terming the claims of some Indian leaders that resistance in Kashmir is only within three districts as laughable; he said if these Indians believe in their own sayings then they should be more than happy to hold referendum in Kashmir. He said, Kashmiryat is another name for humanity and it is our belief that Kashmiryat is about adhering to our religion Islam and means to safeguard the interests, lives, honour, dignity and properties of minorities living alongside us.  Kashmiryat is integral to our liberation struggle and is guided by Islamic principles of humanism, tolerance and respect for all our minorities and the marginalized, he maintained.