Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader and former Kashmir legislator Yusuf Tarigami on Tuesday made an appeal saying, “Please listen to us. You have heard only one version, listen to the people of Kashmir too. We don’t want to be killed or destroyed.”
He is the first political leader from Kashmir to address a press conference after being put under house arrest since August 5 following the abrogation of Article 370 that had granted special status to Jammu & Kashmir. He addressed the press conference on Tuesday at the CPI(M) party office in the national capital with the party’s general secretary Sitaram Yechury by his side.
Tarigami said “We also want to live, a Kashmiri, a Hindustani is saying this. This is my appeal, please listen to us too. (Hum bhi jeena chahte hai, ek Kashmiri, ek Hindustani bol raha hai yahan. Yeh meri appeal hai, hamari bhi suney.) The average Kashmiri doesn’t ask for heavens, we just ask for a chance to march with you.”
He attacked the Centre saying that the authorities were saying the situation in the state was under control. He said that the BJP claims that not a single bullet has been fired and no one has been killed but “truth is that the Kashmiris are dying a slow death, Tarigami was quoted saying, in The Hindu.
The CPI(M) general secretary added that the main problem was that people’s livelihood had been affected and no one knew for how long the situation would continue.
Tarigami also criticised the Central government for detaining former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah under the Public Safety Act. “We, Abdullah and others are not terrorists,” Tarigami said. “I am very disturbed,” he said. “It has been 40 days of restrictions but the government claims there is normalcy,” he was quoted saying. “Do this in Delhi or any other city and see what is the situation of business, hospitals, schools and media”.
There are restrictions in several parts of Jammu & Kashmir, though communications have been partially restored. Yechury added that medicine supplies in hospitals were short and landline services continued to be down in some areas. He said that the landline phones of Tarigami and some other party colleagues were still not working.
The CPI(M) will file a separate writ petition challenging the abrogation of Article 370.
Tarigami had been shifted to the All India Institute of Medical Services (AIIMS) in New Delhi for treatment earlier this month following an order by the Supreme Court. The court had allowed Sitaram Yechury to visit Tarigami when he had failed to do so for the first time and had to return after landing in Srinagar.
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