ISLAMABAD/MIRPUR: On the 89th anniversary of the Youm-e-Shuhada-e-Kashmir (Kashmir Martyrs’ Day), Pakistan’s political leadership united on Monday in paying tributes to 22 Kashmiris, who had laid down their lives during a protest against the Dogra forces in 1931, and denouncing the sitting repressive and fascist Indian regime.
President Dr Arif Alvi, in his tweet, Monday paid tribute to the martyrs, and said: “This day is a reminder that Kashmiris have been resisting oppression for a century.”
The president, reiterating Pakistan’s complete moral, political and diplomatic support to the people of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, said that sacrifices of the Kashmiri people would not go in vain as they were sacrificing for their just right to self-determination. The day was not far away when they would get liberation from the illegal Indian occupation, he added.
Prime Minister Imran Khan, while saluting the Kashmiris for their freedom struggle, tweeted, “The shuhada of July 13, 1931 were the forefathers of today's Kashmiri resistance.”
“Their descendants have, generation after generation, laid down their lives for freedom and today they continue to valiantly fight and defy a Hindutva Supremacist regime bent on demographic engineering to wipe out the Kashmiri people and their identity,” he added. Pakistan will continue to support the Kashmiris right to self-determination till it is liberated, the PM reiterated.
In his message on the day, PML-N President and National Assembly Opposition Leader Shahbaz Sharif said the people of IOJ&K are questioning the international community, United Nation and its Security Council when will they get justice.
Shahbaz said the names of those who sacrificed their lives fighting for freedom against the Dogara regime under the British patronage, will be written in golden words on the pages of history. He said the Indian oppression has worsened in IOJ&K after India's illegal annexation of the valley and imposition of a crushing curfew and a total communications blackout since August 5, 2019. Shahbaz also condemned the unprovoked firing by Indian forces along the LoC, saying India has gone insane in its obsessive jingoism.
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said Kashmiris will soon get freedom and India will face defeat. Indian leaders will continue to stumble with the echo of the Azaan that was given by Kashmiri martyrs he added. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi spoke to Geo News and said that the people of Kashmir were not alone in their struggle forself-determination against the India.
“My message to the people of Kashmir is we know you’re in pain but you should know you’re not alone. Every child, the Pakistan Army, everyone is with you. We will stand with you till you get your independence,” Qureshi said.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz said, in a tweet, “Kashmiris today are facing the worst Indian state terrorism at the hands of fascist Modi regime of India.” In his statement, Jamaat e Islami Emir Senator Sirajul Haq, assuring Kashmiris full support from the people of Pakistan in their struggle.
He particularly mentioned the struggle of elderly Huriat leader Syed Ali Gilani and young martyr Burahan Wani. The JI chief said the descendent of the 22 Kashmiris martyred 89 years ago were now sacrificing their lives with the same spirit against the fascist regime of Modi. He said over 0 8 million Indian forces were involved in worst crime against humanity but the world was shamelessly silent.
National Assembly (NA) Speaker Asad Qaiser Monday said Kashmiris had sacrificed a lot in their struggle for freedom from India. He said blood of innocent Kashmiris would never go waste.
He also remarked that day was not far off when Kashmiris would be able to get freedom from the tyrant Indian forces. He said Kashmir was an unfinished agenda of the partition of subcontinent.
Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan has expressed his deep gratitude to the British and European Parliamentarians for their abiding and steadfast cross-party support to the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination and protection of their human rights.
“At this crucial hour, we need their voice and outreach to their respective governments, the United Nations and relevant multilateral institutions to build pressure on India to stop forthwith the massive transfer of its population to the disputed Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir in violation of the 4th Geneva Convention and customary international law.
The event coincided with Kashmir Martyrs Day was attended by representatives of Tehreek-e- Kashmir from UK, Denmark, Scotland, Norway, Spain, Italy, Germany, Portugal and Switzerland.
Prime Minister Azad Jammu & Kashmir Raja Muhammad Farooq Haider Khan assured the people of Occupied Jammu & Kashmir that entire nation of Pakistan stood with them in their just struggle for freedom till the achievement of their inalienable right to self determination.
Addressing Kashmir Martyrs day congregation in the State’s capital to pay homage to the martyrs of July 13, 1931, he warned India that Pakistan armed forces were fully prepared to defend the ideological and geographical frontiers of the country, and would give a befitting response to any Indian aggression posed to our territorial integrity.
Haider said “it is a matter of great pleasure that all political forces, people and the government of Pakistan are on the same page with regard to the Kashmir Policy and day is for off when the dawn of freedom will arise in IOK”.
Earlier, complete shutdown marked by curfew-like restrictions was observed across the Kashmir Valley in the memory of the 89th Kashmir Martyrs Day Monday. According to KMS, call for the strike was given by the veteran Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, and Mirwaiz-led Hurriyat Forum with an aim to attract the attention of the world towards the peaceful and just resolution of the Kashmir dispute and to put an end to the repression led by India’s fascist government of Narendra Modi against the Kashmiri people and Hurriyat leaders.
Curfew-like restrictions were imposed by the Delhi-run government in Srinagar and other parts of occupied Kashmir to prevent anti-India protests and rallies and a march towards Mazar-e-Shuhada, Naqshband Sahib in Srinagar.
Barricades were placed near historic clock tower in Lal Chowk, Srinagar, while the forces personnel deployed in strength to prevent the march. Almost all Hurriyat leaders and activists including Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq are either languishing in jails or under house arrest.
Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Chairman Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai and several Jamaat-e-Islami leaders and activists were arrested Sunday. According to another report, Indian troops in their fresh act of state terrorism martyred two more youth in Islamabad district Monday taking the toll to five in the past 24 hours in occupied Kashmir.