Pro-independence Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader Muhammad Yasin Malik on Tuesday regretted New Delhi’s reported decision not to allow him return home from Pakistan using the Chakoti-Uri, crossing point along the Line of Control (LoC), to attend the funeral of his father who died in Srinagar earlier on Monday.
There has been no word from New Delhi on Mr Malik’s claim and the officials of the state government here said they had no knowledge about the matter and, in fact, were not supposed to speak on the issue necessarily related to MEA.
“It is really unfortunate that we the people of Kashmir can’t cross this bloody line even in urgent situation. This shows our helplessness. But I’m sure as death that like Berlin Wall this unnatural barrier will also be demolished one day,” the JKLF leader told this newspaper after attending the funeral of his father Ghulam Qadir Malik, 65, who died of lungs failure.
Hundreds of people, including senior separatist leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq attended the funeral here on Tuesday afternoon soon after Yasin Malik arrived here from New Delhi. Chief minister Omar Abdullah also condoled the demise of Senior Malik expressing sympathy with the bereaved family and prayed for peace to the departed soul.
JKLF leader, whose Pakistani wife Mushaal Mullick recently gave birth to a baby girl in Islamabad, said that a Srinagar-based journalist called him up in Islamabad to inform that the Indian authorities have hinted at him being allowed to cross the LoC at Chakoti-Uri if a formal request was made by Islamabad.