Four-time Jammu and Kashmir MLA Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami, on Tuesday, made an emotional appeal on behalf of the people of the Valley, saying they are feeling suffocated and dying a slow death because of the continuing lockdown following nullification of Article 370.
“They say not a single bullet has been fired. They say no one has been killed. The truth is that Kashmiris are dying a slow death. We are being suffocated there,” said Tarigami, who is the face of CPI(M) in the Valley.
Tarigami will file a writ petition on behalf of his party in the Supreme Court, challenging the nullification of Article 370 and the division of the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories.
“Why are we being deprived of the facilities that the rest of the country enjoys? Why don't we have access to telephones and internet? Our fruit industry has been destroyed. There are livelihood issues. Treat every Kashmiri as a citizen of India,” said Tarigami, who got teary-eyed during the press conference in Delhi.
The CPI(M) leader, who was allowed to travel to Delhi for medical treatment following an order by the Supreme Court, said, “Hum bhi jeena chahte hain. Ek Kashmiri, ek Hindustani bol raha hai yahan. Yeh meri appeal hai, hamari bhi sune (We also want to live. A Kashmiri, an Indian is speaking. This is my appeal – listen to us).”
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On the lockdown in Kashmir, which has been on for more than 40 days, he said, “Why don't they try doing this in Delhi for a week?”
“Can the government win the trust of people by beating them up, locking them in jails, by shutting down the internet, by disconnecting phone lines?” Tarigami asked. He claimed that anti-India elements across the border were cheering for what the government had done in Kashmir, saying it had managed to do what they could not do.
Tarigami condemned the invocation of the Public Safety Act against former chief minister Farooq Abdullah, saying Abdullah cannot be treated like a terrorist. “I am not a foreigner and neither are Farooq Abdullah or other leaders terrorists.”
Tarigami was, on the orders of the Supreme Court, allowed to travel to Delhi to get treated at AIIMS. On Monday, the Supreme Court said the CPI(M) leader was now free to return to Srinagar if the doctors at AIIMS ruled him fit to go home.
Speaking at the press conference, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the landlines of many people in Srinagar, including that of Tarigami, were still down. He also spoke about shortages of essential items such as medicines.
Yechury had met Tarigami in Srinagar earlier this month after he was allowed to travel there by the Supreme Court. Acting on Yechury's report, the court had ordered that Tarigami be shifted to AIIMS in Delhi for treatment.