Pelting won’t take place if police behave with civility: Geelani

Srinagar: Refuting the police’s claim that his public appearance triggers stone pelting incidents, Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Saturday said the youth are “forced” to pelt stones in response to “police hooliganism,” and that he could guarantee that such incidents would not take place if the police behave in a “civilized manner.”
“The police forces the youth to pelt stones as they unnecessarily chase them and use force against them as soon as I finish my address and leave the area. Eventually, the hot-blooded youth are forced to react to the police hooliganism. I can say with confidence that if the police behave in a civilized manner and stop harassing youth, the unpleasant incidents for which the youth are held responsible by the police will not take place,” he said in a statement issued.
“Wherever I go I ask youth not to pelt stones, as I did during my visit to Baramulla and Bandipora recently.  When I use the word peaceful for our struggle, I mean peaceful by it. It is not that I want to deceive or hoodwink somebody. Our decision to keep the freedom movement peaceful is a conscious one and not made under any threat or compulsion,” he said.
Thanking people for observing a “complete shutdown” today, Geelani said the release of political prisoners was imperative for conducive political atmosphere in Kashmir, saying New Delhi must understand that “random arrests and continued detention” cannot break the resolve of Kashmiris.
“The dialogue process between India and Pakistan would also remain meaningless. History bears witness to the fact that Kashmiris cannot be subdued through arrests and detention. Such tactics only widen the gulf (between New Delhi and Kashmir),” he said. Geelani said from Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram to the three Kashmir interlocutor, promises of releasing political activists and youth had turned out to be hoax. He said New Delhi had not learnt any lessons about Kashmir’s history and the new generation’s psyche, and continues to deal with Kashmir through its “failed policy.”
“If arrests and detention could solve the Kashmir issue, then that should have happened quite a long time ago, but the fact remains that these repressive tactics only bring shame to India at the international level. By imprisoning people on the basis of their political ideology, India is only contradicting its claims of being a democracy,” he said.
Geelani also came down heavily on the international community for  doing nothing about the “random arrests and miserable plight of political activists in jails.”
He appealed Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other international rights groups to use their influence upon India and help secure the detainees’ release.