In occupied Kashmir, normal life has come to a grinding halt after Indian troops have intensified checking and frisking in the name of a security blanket ahead of India’s Republic Day, 26th January.
The troops and paramilitary personnel conduct random checking of vehicles at various places in the Srinagar and other areas of the territory restricting the free movement of the people.
The troops have increased vigil with CCTVs installed in and around the cricket stadium in Srinagar to keep close watch on the movement of people.
Multiple layer security arrangements have been made in the territory. The searches of vehicles and frisking of commuters at entry and exit points of the city have been stepped up. The police and CRPF personnel are also con-ducting nocturnal drills.
All government officers and Public Sector undertakings and schools have been asked to attend the function.
Senior APHC leader Nayeem Ahmed Khan has said that the fascist country that has usurped the fundamental rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir had no justification to celebrate Indian Republic Day.
In his message on Tuesday from Tihar jail, the incarcerated Hurriyat leader while denouncing India’s illegal and forcible occupation of Jammu and Kashmir said, “Since the past several decades, Indian occupation forces have been grossly involved in trampling down the fundamental political and democratic rights of the Kashmiri people.”
“Notwithstanding their commitments of holding a free, fair and impartial plebiscite to let the people of Jammu and Kashmir decide their political fate, the Indian rulers have chosen a violent path to suppress by dint of force the aspirations of Kashmiri people,” Khan said, adding that it was incumbent upon the international community to take serious notice of the illegal occupation of Kashmir by India and its belligerent occupation of Kashmir, which he said has been major cause and consequence of unrest in the region.
Reiterating his party’s full support to the APHC call for a strike on January 26, Nayeem appealed to the Kashmiri masses to observe a complete strike on the day for conveying to the world that India’s illegal occupation was not acceptable to them.
Recalling the dreadful genocide of innocent civilians at Handwara by the Indian army, he said the massacre of 21 unarmed protesters by the Border Security Force of India in north Kashmir’s Handwara town on 25th January 1990 was the most horrifying example of Indian state terrorism.
Demanding an independent probe into the incident to bring to justice the perpetrators, he regrettably noted that those involved in this beastly act were let off scot-free.
