SRINAGAR: Separatist leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq on Tuesday defended a youth who questioned the bona fides of separatist leaders in Kashmir, saying young people like him have every right to vent their emotions.
Irfan Sheikh, a cousin of Kaiser Ahmad who was mowed down by a Central Reserve Police Force vehicle in Srinagar last week, challenged the separatist leaders who came to offer condolences to the deceased.
The video of Sheikh was widely circulated on Internet, generating debates on social media and on national television news channels.
Reacting, the Mirwaiz wrote on Twitter: "Indian media repeatedly exposes their shallowness and frustration! The youth of Kashmir like Irfan Sheikh, who are at the forefront of the freedom movement, giving immense sacrifices, have every right to question their leadership and vent their emotions.
"Actually this section of electronic media lives off spreading hate and propaganda about Kashmir. They have a deep vested interest in it. Kashmir and Hurriyat bashing has become a great TRP grosser for them!"
In the video, Sheikh is heard saying that there is duplicity in the approach of the separatist leaders.
"On the one hand you are greeting Shabir Shah's daughter for excelling in exams as a student of a Delhi Public School and on the other hand you are asking Kashmiris not to send children to Christian missionary schools.
"Against the sayings and practices of the Prophet, who said Muslims should hasten the burial of their dead, you kept my cousin's body on the road for three hours. Is that the teaching of the holy Prophet?" he asked.
Sheikh also said that Kaiser had left behind two sisters who have nobody in the world after their brother's death.