KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
The execution of Mumbai serial blast accused in Nagpur Jail Thursday sparked protest in Kashmir while police detained local legislator after he along with his supporters staged a protest in city centre Lal Chowk in Srinagar.
Eyewitnesses said that scores of people led by MLA Langate Engineer Abdul Rashid assembled near Clock Tower Lal Chowk in Summer Capital Srinagar and amid anti-Indian Government slogans staged a massive protest against the hanging of Yakoob Menon.
The protesters carrying banners and placards reading, “Who Among Muslims Is To Be Hanged Next” with the pictures of Yakoob Menon and Muhammad Afzal Guroo while denounced the execution of Menon said that it was a cold blooded murder and the execution was unwarranted and unjustified.
The protesters shouted high pitched slogans like “Gali Gali Main Shor Hain, Delhi Aadam Khor Hain”. Talking to reporters Engineer Rashid said that the Yaqub’s hanging is travesty of justice. “Yaqub is another victim of Indian government’s inhumane justice delivery system. Indian Justice System has witnessed another big dent. First they executed Muhammad Afzal Guroo and now a person who happened to be a Muslim after spending twenty years in prison,” Rashid said.
Rashid said that the killers of Muslims are roaming free and no action has been initiating against them just because they belong to majority community. “Why Indian Prime Minister is roaming free when he is behind the killing of innocent Muslims in Gujrat. Why Meca Masjid and Malagoan blast accused are not hanged,” he questioned.
During the protest, Rashid also demanded the return of mortal remains of Mohammad Afzal Guru, who was hanged and secretly buried in New Delhi’s Tihar Jail on February 9, 2013 on charges of attacking Indian parliament. Witnesses said that while the MLA was staging a protest, a police team detained him along with some of his supporters.
The lawyers at Srinagar lower court also staged a peaceful protest against the hanging of Yakoob Menon. Scores of lawyers staged a sit-in and termed the execution ‘travesty of justice’. Talking to reporters the protesting lawyers said that, “If innocents are killed, the guilty should not be spared. But over 2,000 innocent lives were also lost in the Mumbai riots. The perpetrators are still free. Justice can’t have two faces. It needs to be same for everyone and for that reason, we are seeking stringent punishment for those responsible for the killing of innocent Muslims in India especially in Gujrat,” they said.
The lawyers at Court Complex Pulwama in South Kashmir also staged a silent protest against the ‘unwarranted’ execution of Yakoob Menon. The protesting lawyers marched from Court complex to DC Office Pulwama. They told CNS that instead of Court it was Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh who ordered the hanging of yakub Menon. “The government has hanged Yakoob to appease Hindu voters of Bihar and West Bengal. It is a cold blooded murder and we condemn it,” they said.
Meanwhile, in Doda district of Jammu Division, hundreds of people offered funeral prayers for Yakoob Menon in absentia. The participants later on staged a peaceful protest against the hanging of Menon and termed it as a ‘grave blunder and grave injustice’ on part of Government of India.
