Not against the pilgrimage, but long duration and huge number of pilgrims is causing threat to the environment, the Separatist leader said.
By TwoCircles.net staff reporter,
Tral/ Pulwama: The chairman of Hurriyat Conference (G) Syed Ali Geelani on Friday said the annual Amarnath Yatra should be restricted to 15 or 30 days only while the number of yatris should be decreased.
“Amarnath yatra will start soon. We are not against this pilgrimage but its time should be only 15 to 30 days as is the case with Uttarakhand. Long duration of yatra and huge number of pilgrims is causing threat to our environment,” he said.
‘If India implements UN resolution, Pakistan will demilitarise POK’
Geelani, who was on visit to home of the youth who was killed in a gun-battle in Kamla forest, South Kashmjr, Tral, while addressing the people, further said, that Pakistan was “ready to go for demilitarization of ‘Azad Kashmir’ (Pakistan Administered Kashmir) if India implements the United Nations resolutions on Kashmir.”
He added, “People of Kashmir should be given their inalienable right to self determination.” While asserting that “armed forces should be removed from both sides of Kashmir,” he said the “right to self-determination according to the UN resolutions is the only way to resolve the Kashmir dispute.”
“Pakistan has been saying it will remove forces from Azad Kashmir and give people a choice to vote. Demilitarization should take place from Jammu and Kashmir, especially from residential areas. People have been killed, women raped and property damaged by the Indian armed forces in J&K,” he said, adding, “India is suffering from arrogance of power. By the military might, it is terrorizing people in Kashmir. There can no solution to Kashmir until India’s armed forces are stationed here. They have killed more than 1 lakh people in the past 25 years.”
While taking dig at government and armed forces over exploitation of natural resources, Geelani said, “Our forests, water resources are being looted from us. India’s armed forces are occupying high altitude and beautiful places besides plains of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.