SRINAGAR: A day after Enforcement Directorate (ED) issued notice to him for alleged forex violation of Rs 48.23 lakhs, senior separatist leader and JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik Saturday said he won’t surrender to New Delhi’s “pressure tactics” and is ready to live in Tihar jail forever.
“I have not received any notice from ED. However, before sending notice to me, they issued it through media,” Malik said while addressing a press conference here.
The ED had yesterday issued a FEMA notice to Malik and two others for alleged forex violation of Rs 48.23 lakh.
Malik said the families, friends and relatives of separatist leaders in Kashmir have been called for questioning by NIA.
“This is a tactic to weaken our movement and spirit. I would like to convey to India that these notices, which come with threats of being jailed in Tihar jail, won’t dampen and weaken our spirit,” he said.
“Our spirit won’t die. Infact, it has increased,” JKLF chairman said.
He said India through the raids and arrests by agencies wants to force them (separatists) to shun the path of resistance. “They threaten us that if continue our resistance movement, they will put us in Tihar Jail”.
Accusing New Delhi of following “Gabbar Singh” approach, he said, “India wants us to talk with a gun on our heads and if we say no, they come with notices and cases to intimidate and penalize us”.
He said he wants to convey to India that he is impatient to enter death cell in Tihar jail.
“Our leader Maqbool Bhat taught us how to embrace hanging,” Malik said.
Bhat, who was a JKLF founder, was hanged in Delhi’s Tihar jail on February 11, 1984.
Malik said a “freedom fighter has love for freedom struggle. The freedom fighter cannot be scared and threatened”.
The Indian government, he said, should open the doors of Tihar jail. “Kashmir movement is a love for us and lovers don’t surrender. We are ready to live in Tihar forever rather than surrendering before New Delhi.”
Referring to statement of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh that there would be Hurriyat-free Kashmir in 2022, Malik said, “Let us see whether he would be there in India. Our movement will be here in Kashmir. The Azad struggle will continue till we succeed”.
“Peoples movement and mass resistance can never be defeated by oppression and tyranny,” he said.
Taking a dig at Modi government, JKLF chairman said BJP-led regime can’t understand the love of Kashmir’s separatist leadership towards the “freedom movement”.
“The BJP did not exist when people of India fought against Britishers for independence. They only know the language of suppressing the genuine voice through military means”.