BIRMINGHAM, Sep 04 (DNA): Hundreds of British Kashmiris held protest
demonstrations against Indian occupation regime for forcibly taking in
custody the body of the Kashmiri resistance icon, Syed Ali Geelani and
barring his family and his people from participating in his funeral
prayers.

Responding to an emergency call by Tehreek-e-Kashmir, UK, hundreds of
British Kashmiris came together in different cities of the UK and
demanded that India be held accountable for inhuman, war crimes actions
in IIOJK.

In Birmingham city, demonstrations were held outside the Indian
Consulate where protestors condemned Indian authorities and their
actions in IIOJK.

The protestors expressed grief over demise of Syed Ali Geelani, who was
under house arrest by Indian authorities, when he left this world. “It
is a custodial death and responsibility of which lies on India,” the
protestors said.

Funeral prayers in absentia in honour of Syed Ali Geelani were offered
in Luton, Birmingham, Walsall, Leeds, Nelson, Nottingham, Glasgow,
Barcelona, Zurich, Oslo and other cities of the UK and Europe.

Protesters outside the Indian Consulate in Birmingham raised anti-India
slogans against its inhuman treatment meted out to the body of Syed Ali
Geelani.

Indian forces raided the house of Geelani in the dead of night on Sept.
1 and 2 and forcibly took away his body. The family members were told to
bury Gilani silently which they resisted as they wanted to bury him
according to his wish.

Geelani had wished to be buried in Martyrs Graveyard in Srinagar. But
Indian authorities disallowed it and buried him forcibly in a local
graveyard in Hyderpora area in Srinagar where Geelani lived for past
three decades.

Protesters carried pictures of Geelani pictures with slogans: “We are
all Gilani and we will continue the mission of Geelani.”

Fahim Kayani, President of Tehreek-e-Kashmir, UK, said that Geelani is
the face of Kashmiri resistance movement against Indian rule, who
challenged India’s hegemonic rule over Indian illegally occupied Jammu
and Kashmir for decades.

“Geelani has been fighting India since the early 1960s and he was
imprisoned for almost 20 years since then,” he said, adding, India
restricted him to his home for more than a decade since 2010.

Muhammad Ghalib, President of Tehreek-e-Kashmir, Europe, condemned
India’s act of barbarism of snatching Geelani’s body and forcibly
burying him.

Ian Scott, President of Birmingham Trade Council, said that the
Birmingham Trade Council passed a resolution and condemned the inhuman
act of not allowing Geelani’s funeral according to his wish.

Khawajah Muhammad Suleman, Mushtaq Hussain, Khawajah Inam-ul-Haq, Qamar
Abbas, Liaqat Lone, Yousaf Farooq, Azam Farooq, Sardar Aftab Advocate
and other Kashmiri leaders said in their statements that India
systematically murdered “Father of the Nation”, Syed Ali Geelani by
putting him under strict house arrest for more than a decade which
caused several health issues to him.

====