AsiaNet-Pakistan Premier Editorial Content and Press Release Distribution Service
Srinagar, March 03, 2013 (PPI-OT): In occupied Kashmir, red colour that usually signifies strength and rebellion was used on Saturday to show pain and anger of Kashmiris over the hanging of Muhammad Afzal Guru.
The occupied territory saw a wave of red colour with people using red ribbons, red flags and red paint to express their resentment over the execution of Afzal Guru. Shops, vehicles and streets across the occupied territory displayed a token of red.
The pro-liberation groups under the banner of Muttahida Majlis-e-Mushawrat (MMM), in the five-day protest calendar had appealed people to use red colour as a mark of protest to press the demand seeking return of bodies of Kashmiri leaders, Muhammad Maqbool Butt and Muhammad Afzal Guru, who were hanged and buried inside New Delhi’s Tihar jail.
Red flags were seen waving on vehicles; red ribbons and small flags were hoisted on shops while several streets and roads were painted red in Srinagar. A large number of activists of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) assembled near the Press Colony and painted red the portion of Residency Road stretch. They also raised pro-freedom slogans.
In Maisuma and old city areas people wore red ribbons and hoisted red flags on roof tops and shops, to express their anger that has gripped Kashmir post Afzal hanging. Most of the business houses and shops even owned by non-Muslims also put up red flags to protest against Guru’s execution.
“We are the part of their society and their pain is our pain. We are always with them in joy and sorrow. This is a protest what I can say against injustice. No law can stop a son not to see his father. If Guru was hanged on whatever conditions give his body to his family,” said a Kashmiri Pandit shopkeeper in Koker Bazaar area, adding that it was a non-violent way to register a protest against injustice.
Similarly, in other major towns of the Valley including Budgam, Islamabad, Sopore, Baramulla, Shopian and Pulwama roads and streets were painted red and people hoisted red flags on their houses, shops and vehicles.
For more information, contact:
Kashmir Media Service
Email: info@kmsnews.org
Phone: 92-51-4435548, 4435549
Fax: 92-51-4861736