Geelani barred from participating in Urdu book fair at KU
Srinagar: Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman, Syed Ali Geelani was Friday barred to participate in the ongoing Urdu book fair at University of Kashmir on Friday.
A Hurriyat (G) statement said that Geelani’s Hyderpora residence, “which has been converted into jail for the last one decade, was cordoned off by extra police force to sabotage and prevent him from attending this purely academic activity”.
Condemning the police “high handedness and coercive measures of the government”, Geelani said in the statement, “I was going to meet my beloved youth, interact and spend some time with them and it was a peaceful and apolitical event, but academic and educational activities too are curbed and forcibly stopped with the barrel of gun”.
In his message, Geelani said that “these dark and gloomy clouds of oppression will fade away and this frightening and distressing night of slavery is surely going to have a glorious dawn of freedom”.
Meanwhile, expressing his serious concern about the “extinction of Urdu”, Hurriyat (G) chairman said that most of our literature was in Urdu particularly in the sub-continent and the carelessness and non-seriousness about the language would deprive coming generations of the valuable and literary treasure of faith and culture.
He requested students, researchers, teachers and educationists to safeguard the Urdu language and “oppose tooth and nail any mischief to suppress it”.
Hurriyat (G) chairman said that “communal forces have very cunningly attributed this language to Muslims only and likewise is treated as a minority”.
“But fact of the matter is that this melodious language has echoed in every soul irrespective of its faith and religion,” he said.
Geelani also congratulated the organizers and participants of the Urdu book fair for travelling from far off places to Kashmir and camping for the last one week to promote Urdu.
He appealed to the students, scholars and budding academicians to get to the zenith of knowledge and analysis.
KV News
