In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, senior APHC leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has asked the people of Jammu and Kashmir to register their strong protest against India’s policy of severe repression by observing its Republic Day as a Black Day in the territory, Wednesday.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq who is under house de-tention in a statement issued in Srinagar said for the past 75 years people of Kashmir are demanding the right to self-determination that Indian leadership promised to them not only in the United Nations or the Indian Parliament, but at Lal Chowk in Srinagar by none other than Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, himself.
However, till this day not only the commitment has not been fulfilled but those that remind India of its pledges are rewarded with bullets and pellets and detention, he added.
The senior APHC leader said a nation that prides itself on being a representative democracy chosen by the free will of its people is executing tyranny and suppression to forcibly exert its will over the people of Kashmir. Tens of thousands of Indian armed forces’ personnel are deployed to suppress the aspirations of people and draconian laws like Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AF-SPA) and Public Safety Act (PSA) are invoked to ensure people’s sentiments do not get out of hand, he added.
Hundreds of people including the entire leader-ship have been lodged in jails or are under illegal and arbitrary house arrest, whose only crime is the demand for restoration of basic human and political rights of the Kashmiri people. “Every voice raised for it is muzzled through military might. Our youth are targeted and killed. All means of protest are barred and curbed for us,” he said.
APHC leader Muhammad Yousuf Naqash termed the Indian Republic day as the darkest day for the Kashmiris and said that after killing millions of Kashmiris, India has lost the right to celebrate the day in the occupied territory. “The minorities living in India especially Muslims are aware of massacre plan by Modi,” he said.
APHC leader, Engineer Hilal Ahmad War, in a statement said that India has no right to celebrate its Republic Day on the soil of Jammu and Kashmir. “India must not forget that Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally-recognized disputed territory, and this dispute can only be resolved through a UN-sponsored referendum, he added.
The Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front in a statement termed the 26th January, the Indian Re-public Day, as a black day for Kashmiris. It said the unprecedented and un-matched sacrifices offered by the people of Jammu and Kashmir will, for sure, lead the ongoing Kashmir freedom movement to ultimate success. It said the Kashmiris’ freedom struggle is based on truth, justice and morality but is being met by the use of military might by India to curb it.—KMS
