BIRMINGHAM: Hundreds of British Kashmiris held protest demonstrations against Indian occupation regime for forcibly taking in custody the body of the Kashmiri resistance icon, Syed Ali Geelani and barring his family and his people from participating in his funeral prayers.
Responding to an emergency call by Tehreek-e-Kashmir, UK, hundreds of British Kashmiris came together in different cities of the UK and demanded that India be held accountable for inhuman, war crimes actions in IIOJK.
In Birmingham city, demonstrations were held outside the Indian Consulate where protestors condemned Indian authorities and their actions in IIOJK.
The protestors expressed grief over demise of Syed Ali Geelani, who was under house arrest by Indian authorities, when he left this world. “It is a custodial death and responsibility of which lies on India,” the protestors said.
Funeral prayers in absentia in honour of Syed Ali Geelani were offered in Luton, Birmingham, Walsall, Leeds, Nelson, Nottingham, Glasgow, Barcelona, Zurich, Oslo and other cities of the UK and Europe.
Protesters outside the Indian Consulate in Birmingham raised anti-India slogans against its inhuman treatment meted out to the body of Syed Ali Geelani.
Indian forces raided the house of Geelani in the dead of night on Sept. 1 and 2 and forcibly took away his body. The family members were told to bury Gilani silently which they resisted as they wanted to bury him according to his wish.
Geelani had wished to be buried in Martyrs Graveyard in Srinagar. But Indian authorities disallowed it and buried him forcibly in a local graveyard in Hyderpora area in Srinagar where Geelani lived for past three decades.
Protesters carried pictures of Geelani pictures with slogans: “We are all Gilani and we will continue the mission of Geelani.”
Fahim Kayani, President of Tehreek-e-Kashmir, UK, said that Geelani is the face of Kashmiri resistance movement against Indian rule, who challenged India’s hegemonic rule over Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir for decades.
“Geelani has been fighting India since the early 1960s and he was imprisoned for almost 20 years since then,” he said, adding, India restricted him to his home for more than a decade since 2010.
Muhammad Ghalib, President of Tehreek-e-Kashmir, Europe, condemned India’s act of barbarism of snatching Geelani’s body and forcibly burying him.
Ian Scott, President of Birmingham Trade Council, said that the Birmingham Trade Council passed a resolution and condemned the inhuman act of not allowing Geelani’s funeral according to his wish.
Khawajah Muhammad Suleman, Mushtaq Hussain, Khawajah Inam-ul-Haq, Qamar Abbas, Liaqat Lone, Yousaf Farooq, Azam Farooq, Sardar Aftab Advocate and other Kashmiri leaders said in their statements that India systematically murdered “Father of the Nation”, Syed Ali Geelani by putting him under strict house arrest for more than a decade which caused several health issues to him.
