Srinagar: Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Shah on December 18 said an appeal would
be filed in High Court, challenging the verdict in the Parliament attack case.
Reacting to the death sentence given to three persons and five year rigorous
imprisonment to another in the case by a Delhi court, Shah said he had not "lost all
hopes and an appeal would be filed in High Court and if need be in the Supreme Court
under the prescribed legal procedure".
He said the anti-terrorism law, Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), under which they
were tried, had been enacted to "suppress the Opposition and turn it into a vote
garnering machine" for the next Parliamentary elections.
He said a protest march would be held on December 20 in Baramulla, the hometown of S
A R Geelani, one of the three convicts given death sentence.
Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) vice-chairman Javed Ahmed Mir said the
verdict would not help in resolving the Kashmir issue.
Meanwhile, lawyers in the Kashmir Valley abstained from court, expressing
displeasure over the verdict.
President of Bar Association of Kashmir Zafar Ahmed Shah said the lawyers' action
had nothing to do with the nation wide strike.
PTI
