ISLAMABAD The Chairman of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Jammu and Kashmir (TeH), Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai in Indian Occupied Kashmir has asked the people to observe India’s Republic Day, the 26th January, as Black Day. According to Kashmir Media Service, Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai in a statement issued in Srinagar said that India had illegally occupied the territory of Jammu and Kashmir on October 27 in 1947 against the will of the Kashmiri people. He said, India claims to be the largest democracy of the world and celebrates 26th January as its republic day, but its democratic claims stand badly exposed in occupied Kashmir where it is denying the democratic rights to the Kashmiri people for the last over 72 years. The TeH Chairman said that the Kashmiris were neither against the people of India nor against their celebrations of Republic Day. “Neither do we have any sort of prejudice or enmity against India or its people, nor do we dislike its fortune, but it has never honored its word with regard to referendum in Jammu and Kashmir. We wish that our demand for self-determination be accorded due regard and we be given an opportunity to express our aspirations regarding our political destiny and future,” he said. Ashraf Sehrai said that by observing 26th January as Black Day, the Kashmiris would draw the attention of the Indians to the question that was it justified to celebrate the Republic Day of a country which had usurped the democratic rights of the Kashmiri people for the past over seven decades. He said, the UN has recommended that the wishes and aspirations of the Kashmiri people should be respected and India has promised to hold referendum in Jammu and Kashmir but those promises are yet to be fulfilled. Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai also paid glowing tributes to the martyrs of Handwara massacre on the eve of their martyrdom 30th anniversary. Seventeen innocent Kashmiris were killed when Indian paramilitary Border Security Force (BSF) personnel had opened indiscriminate fire on peaceful demonstrators in the town on 25th January in 1990. Ashraf Sehrai said that 25th January 1990 was another tragic reminder of the brutalities Indian troops were committing in occupied Kashmir to punish the Kashmiris for demanding their right to self-determination.—APP
