No strike today, tomorrow: Geelani

Srinagar: Castigating the government for imposing curfews on “normal” days, Chairman Hurriyat Conference (G), Syed Ali Shah Geelani Wednesday modified the protest calendar by exempting 23 and 24 September from the purview of the strike.
The veteran leader said the government by imposing curfew on Sunday and Wednesday – when there was no strike call given by the amalgam— has proved that the state government was meting out a “collective punishment” to people for weakening their resolve.
The government, he said, is subjecting people to severe hardships on purpose by imposing curfews and depriving them of essential commodities, life saving drugs and medicine. He said since the ongoing “freedom” movement is completely peaceful there was no justification for imposing stringent curfew for 12 running days. The octogenarian said the “freedom struggle” would continue unless the last Indian soldier does not leave Kashmir.
“New Delhi is mistaken if it thinks that by imposing curfews it can break the will of the people of Kashmir. We would prefer to die than live a life of humiliation. The boats of retreat have been burnt by Kashmiris,” he said in a statement issued here to Press Bureau of India.
“We had taken into account the daily problems of people while devising the ongoing programme for protests, and had allowed relaxation in strike so that people could stock up items or the sick could visit the hospitals, but for the Indian government it doesn’t matter even if the whole Kashmiri population is starved to death,” Geelani said, according to a statement issued here.
Asking people to resume normal life and stock up on essential commodities on September 23 and 24, Geelani urged people to observe complete shutdown and stage peaceful protests according to the “Quit Kashmir programme” on September 25 and 26.