In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, All Parties Hurriyat Conference leaders have called for a shutdown in Civil Lines and adjoining areas on January 21, 2023 to commemorate the 33rd anniversary of Gawkadal massacre.
APHC leader Engineer Hilal Ahmad War in a statement issued in Srinagar while paying tributes to the martyrs of Gawkadal said, “The mass massacre was carried out by occupational forces of India after the inception of politico-armed struggle for the ‘Right to Self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir”.
“In this brutal and horrified massacre 52 innocent and unarmed civilians were killed in cold blood and 250 sustained serious bullet injuries inflicted by Indian troops on January 21, 1990,” he added. Engineer Hilal said, ‘this massacre was a well thought-out plan of the then Home Ministry of India which was aimed at paving the way for Kashmiri Pandits’ exodus from Kashmir to malign the freedom struggle’.
This nefarious plan was executed and implemented by the then GovernorJagmohan. “This massacre was a politically motivated project which carried its connection with the sustained killings in the length and breadth of J&K, like Handwara, Zukura , Bijbehara, Khanyar, Hazratbal , Sopore etc.” he said and added that the best way to pay the homage to the martyrs is to keep their mission alive. He urged international human rights organization to set up an Independent tribunal to probe Gawkadal and other such massacres so that the conspirators and perpetrators of heinous crimes could be unmasked and punished under international law.
APHC leaders Khadim Hussain and Syed Sibte Shabbir Qummi also strongly condemned the demolition of Muslim houses in several areas of Jammu region in the name of anti-encroachment campaign. They said that the Modi regime is depriving Kashmiri Muslims of their land, houses and other properties to accommodate Indian Hindus in the occupied territory. The leaders urged the international community to give up its criminal silence and take notice of these colonial actions of the fascist Indian government in the occupied territory.
Khadim Hussain and Sibte Shabbir Qummi Qummi who also head Tehreek-e-Wahdat-e-Islami and Pairwan-e-Wilayat, also condemned the growing Indian state terrorism in Kashmir and said that the dream of sustainable peace and development in the region will never be realized until the Kashmir conflict is resolved in its historical perspective.
Meanwhile, posters have appeared in Srinagar and adjoining areas asking people to observe complete shutdown in Srinagar city and adjoining areas to mark the 33nd martyrdom anniversary of Gaw Kadal massacre victims. The posters, displaced by Jammu and Kashmir Sadai Muzloomeen while recalling the great sacrifices of the victims, reiterated the Kashmiris’ pledge to take the mission of the martyrs to its logical conclusion. Posters with writing “Unbelievable…unexplainable” were pasted on walls and poles in the territory.—KMS
