Srinagar, Oct 11 (Reporter) Kashmiri separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Friday said the people through a consolidated ballot has strongly disapproved the drastic unilateral changes made in August 2019 by the Union government. He hoped that those voted to power are respectful to the voters' message and fulfil the promise they made to restore the legal safeguards and the rights snatched from them in 2019. Mirwaiz, the Chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference said this during his Friday address at the historic Jamia mosque in Srinagar. The National Conference emerged as the single largest party in the Assembly polls with 42 seats and along with its alliance partner Congress, which won six seats, it has a comfortable majority in the 95-member House. Four Independents have also pledged support to the NC, taking tally to 52 seats. Addressing the Friday congregation, Mirwaiz said that in the recently concluded Assembly election, people sent a "unanimous and clear message" that in every manner available to them, "they will resist attempts to subjugate and disempower them." “This time, through a consolidated ballot, they registered their strong disapproval for the drastic unilateral changes made in August 2019, since when they have been systematically disempowered, deprived, and their voices stifled,” he said. The Kashmiri Separatist leader hoped that those voted to power are respectful of the voters' message and fulfil the promise they made to restore the legal safeguards and the rights snatched from them in 2019. “The ownership of our land and resources, the constitutional commitments reneged on, our very identity, and dignity were further undermined by the 2019 commandments,” he said. “While we (Hurriyat) peacefully strive for those rights never given to us for almost the last eight decades, for which we are constantly struggling and being sent to jails, we have been constantly appealing to the GOI (Government of India) for engagement and the release of political prisoners which include political leaders , lawyers, human rights activists and youth,” the Hurriyat Conference Chairman said. Mirwaiz said that as promised to the people, the new government should urgently take up the matter with the Government of India and help secure the release of all political prisoners and youth languishing in jails for years and decades, some even without trial, and push for the withdrawal of the draconian laws, including the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and Public Safety Act, under which they themselves were incarcerated in 2019. “These laws have destroyed people’s lives. The medical condition of many prisoners in jail is very worrying. There is an urgent humanitarian need to reunite them with their families, so this matter demands immediate attention and should be addressed on priority,” he said...////...