The Joint Hurriyat leadership comprising of Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik Monday called for Lalchowk Chalo on Saturday May 21 against the proposed visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The leaders, as per a statement, strongly condemned the atrocities committed against people throughout the Kashmir.
“The proposed visit of the Indian premier is aimed at to hoodwink the opinion of international community,” the leaders said.

Blaming government forces for “turning whole state into a battle field”, the leadership said that “innocent people are detained on frivolous charges and are detained in different jails while as youth are being pushed to the wall.”

“Such undemocratic and inhuman situation can’t be tolerated for long. The resistance leadership is denied the political space and genuine voices strangulated and added that those detained are subjected to torture and inhuman behavior,” the statement said.

“Joint Hurriyat will stage a peaceful protest on May 21. Forcing silence of a graveyard by using military might and designating it as peace can only be termed as foolishness and if Indian rulers and their abettors really believe in democracy and freedom of speech, they should stop their oppressive tactics and allow Joint Hurriyat to hold this peaceful protest,” the Joint Hurriyat said.

Joint Hurriyat leaders said that Lal Chowk Chalo has been called to demonstrate before the whole world what people of Kashmir stand for.

“If Indian rulers assume that oppression unleashed by their army and forces has crushed resistance in Kashmir, then they should find some courage to lift ban on political activities of the resistance camp and allow such programs,” they said in a statement.