Hurriyat Conference showers praise on Beijing, calls India cruel occupier'

Srinagar: Syed Ali Shah Geelani-led Hurriyat Conference has termed China as a reliable friend of the people of Kashmir and said it is extremely thankful to Beijing for its ‘unconditional support’ and for not recognizing the Himalayan State’s ‘illegal and forced occupation by India’.

The amalgam of separatist parties while reacting sharply to former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s jibe at separatist leaders for maintaining silence over Chinese troops’ reported presence in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir said his statement was “immature and meaningless”, reflecting only “half truth”.

Omar Abdullah had at the weekend questioned silence of separatist leaders and parties on the issue and tweeted “How is it that Kashmiri leaders who have so much to say about Indian troops in J&K have nothing to say about Chinese troops across the LoC?".

The Hurriyat Conference faction in a statement issued here on Monday sought to draw Abdullah’s attention towards the ‘fact’ that the presence of Chinese army in PoK is under a mutual agreement reached between Islamabad and Beijing as part of the Pak-China economic corridor process.

Asserting that “pro-freedom people” of Jammu and Kashmir have no reason to oppose this move, the Hurriyat Conference also said, “Unlike India which has attacked and forcibly occupied (part of) Jammu and Kashmir, China has not attacked and forcibly occupied the Pakistan-administered-Kashmir or Azad Kashmir.”

It further said, “China is a strong supporter of the right to self determination of the Kashmiri people; hence it is in no way fair to compare the Chinese army with cruel and oppressive occupational forces of India who are carrying out genocide of the Kashmiri people in a planned manner for the last 68 years”.

The Hurriyat Conference said that India has long pending border disputes with China and several frontier states of the country including Arunachal Pradesh are still a cause of tension between the two countries.

“The two neighbours sometimes share bitter relations over these issues but as far as the State of Jammu and Kashmir is concerned, it is quite different issue in nature. If there is any misunderstanding, we (Hurriyat Conference) believe that after attaining freedom from the Indian forced occupation, it can be settled in a friendly atmosphere and China will never do any such action which will endanger the sovereignty and integrate of Jammu and Kashmir,” the separatist amalgam said.

It asserted that Abdullah has no moral justification to criticize the separatists “because he has accepted the Indian forced occupation in Kashmir and is providing a certificate to their illegal control”. It asked him, “How can you lecture people on these issues when you yourself do not act? It is the hypocrisy and it cannot be the way of a principled man”.