India only interested in Kashmir’s natural wealth: Geelani

Srinagar:  Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Wednesday said India was only interested in Kashmir’s natural resources and the money spent on developmental works in the Valley was a “small amount of our own resources.”
“Even if India paves our roads with gold instead of tar coal, it won’t be doing Kashmiris any favour. The small amount spent on developmental works comes from our own natural resources while the major chunk of the money goes into the coffers of ministers and officials,” Geelani said while addressing public rallies in Wanihama Shalimar, Tapar Pattan and Sempora Zainageer areas today.
He said New Delhi was only interested in the land and natural resources of Kashmir and had no interest in whether the Kashmiris lived or died.
Reiterating his call for observing a complete shutdown on May 14, Geelani said those “who oppose hartals should come up with some alternative to protest the Indian oppression and injustice against Kashmiris.”
“As long as we are under India’s military occupation, there will be no end to the oppression and injustice. Youth are arrested and then subjected to torture in custody. Despite tall promises, political leaders and activists continue to languish in jails under one after another Public Safety Act. It’s against this lawlessness that we have called for a strike on May 14. Hartal is our necessity as well as compulsion, because all the other means of protest have been banned here. If people come on the streets they are fired at with bullets and teargas shells,” he said.
Geelani said elections cannot have any bearing on the disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir “and the drama of staging elections in the presence of 10 lakh Indian forces cannot be termed as a democratic activity.”
Geelani said Hurriyat had made a conscious decision to keep the freedom movement completely peaceful. “The decision was not taken under any compulsion or fear but simply because of the realization that our physical resources are very meager,” he said. Taking a dig at pro-India politicians, Geelani said, “It is because of their role that our freedom cause has sustained a lot of damage. By painting shrines and religious places, the ruling class is fooling the gullible masses because these politicians are against the very mission of the people whose shrines they renovate,” he said.
Geelani alleged that India was trying to strengthen its military occupation of Kashmir through cultural aggression. “For this purpose, drugs, liquor and moral waywardness are being promoted among our young generation. The real target of this campaign is to divert the attention of the youth from the freedom movement and indulge them in immoral activities,” he said.