Hurriyet seeks permission to join rescue effort in AJK

NEW DELHI—All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has expressed deep sense of grief and sorrow over the tragic loss of lives and colossal damage to the property on the both sides of Kashmir and Pakistan.
In an emergency meeting of the Executive Council, Working Committee and General Councisl, the APHC led by Mriwaiz Umer Farooq adopted a resolution expressing heart felt anguish and grief over the natural calamity which hit Pakistan and both sides of Kashmir.
“May the departed souls rest in peace and the members of the bereaved families bear the loss with patience and fortitude”, added the resolution.
Earlier, hundreds of people thronged the historic Jamia Masjid in Srinagar today to offer prayers in absentia for those who had lost their lives in the killer quake on both sides of Kashmir and Pakistan.
Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, Chairman of Hurriyat Conference, which organised the Gayibana Namaz-e-Jenazah, led the people in asking for peace to the souls of those killed in the natural calamity after the Zohar prayers in the downtown mosque, Hurriyat sources said.
The funeral prayer was followed by Fateh-Khawani and special prayers to seek Allah’s blessings for those killed in the disaster. Later, Hurriyat Conference appealed to the people to observe coming Friday as mourning and solidarity day and suspend business and other activities.
In Occupied Kashmir, liberation-seeking parties have urged India to allow Kashmiris to visit Azad Kashmir, reports Kashmir Media Service.
Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party President Shabbir Ahmad Shah, while visiting the quake-affected areas of Baramulla and Kupwara district, urged the government of India to allow Kashmiris to visit Azad Kashmir on humanitarian grounds to help their brethren who are in distress, following the massive earthquake, last weekend.
“In this hour of grief and pain, the people of occupied Kashmir should be allowed to visit their brothers who live in Azad Kashmir and have been hit hard by the earthquake”, Shabbir Shah maintained.—Agencies