JKLF demand return of mortal remain of Maqbool Butt

London, 11 Feb 2000,

Hundreds of members of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front JKLF UK branch held a mass demonstration at the Indian High Commission in London on Friday on the occasion 16th martyrdom anniversary the pro-independence Kashmiri leader Maqbool Butt, who was executed by the Indian government on 11th February, 1984.

They were carrying banners and playcards with pictures of martyred kashmiri leader and the imprisoned JKLF chairman Yasin Malik. JKLF members from London, Luton, watford, Birmingham, Bradford, Accrington, Halifax, and other places gathered in London at the Indian mission and shouting pro-independence slogan for over 3 hours in very bad wheather conditions and demanded the release of their chairman Yasin Malik and other APHC leaders from Indian prisons. JKLF leaders paid glowing tribute to Maqbool Butt and pledged to continue with his mission for independence.

A memorandum to this effect was handed to a High Commission by JKLF president Shabir CHoudhry and other representative, which also called for the return of the remains of martyr Maqbool Butt who is burried in the Tihar prison, near New Delhi. The JKLF secretary general for UK_Europe, Azmat A Khan, said on the occasion that India executed Maqbool Butt but his legend lives on and he remains a source inspiration for millions of people throughout forcebly divided Jammu Kashmir and that Kashmiri expatriots throughtout UK and Europe will renew their pledge to work hard to realise his dream of an independent and reunified homeland on his death anniversary. He welcomed the APHC call in Srinagar for a national strike and said that it was indeed a black day in Indian history as Kashmiris throughout the world remember how Maqbool Butt was illegally executed while awaiting trial for another case against him by the government of Indra Gandhi. The JKLF in London vowed to take the Indian government to international courts for the judicial murder of this Kashmir's most popular freedom fighter.

The JKLF have put up an audio message of the martyred leader on their internet website (www.jklf.com) along with a millennium calendar with an unpublished portray of Maqbool Butt Shaheed and Azmat Khan has undertaken to write a biography of Maqbool Butt to tell the world the real story behind the man and his mission.