Lawmaker in India quits to protest New Delhi crackdown in Kashmir
A prominent Kashmiri politician has resigned from India’s parliament to protest an ongoing crackdown by Indian government forces in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
Tariq Hameed Karra quit on Thursday to express his anger at the “brutal policy” adopted by Indian Premier Narendra Modi’s administration in the Muslim-majority valley.
Karra also strongly condemned his People’s Democratic Party for its state-level alliance with Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
He accused the New Delhi government of brutality and insensitivity toward Kashmir.
“Kashmiri blood is being spilled on the walls, lanes and drains of the valley,” Karra told reporters in Srinagar, the main city in Kashmir, on Thursday.
Elsewhere in his remarks, he said that the mass closure of mosques in Kashmir seriously hampered Eid al-Adha rituals this week.
“For the first time in history, the people of Kashmir were not allowed to offer Eid prayers. Certain shrines and even the Grand Mosque were locked,” he said.
Eid al-Adha, or Feast of Sacrifice, marked the culmination of the annual Hajj pilgrimage.
Most residents in Kashmir remained indoors for the Islamic ritual
Indian authorities did not allow congregational Eid prayers in the main mosques and grounds in the Muslim-majority region, but prayers were held by people in small neighborhood mosques.
SS
